New Interstate Quarantine Guidelines May Impact Your Disney World Visit

Effective at 11:59 this evening, June 24, 2020, travelers to the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut tri-state area, will be required to quarantine for 14 days if they have visited a state with a high incidence of COVID-19 cases.

So, you’re asking, how does this impact my Disney World trip? Well, if you don’t live in the tri-state area and you don’t have an upcoming visit to that area in the works, the new rule (announced by NY Governor Cuomo this afternoon) does not affect your Disney World visit. Move along, nothing to see here at this time.

However, if you, like me, are one of the millions of NY/NJ/CT residents who visit Disney World each year, this could be a problem.

The quarantine order will apply to people who have visited states which have a 10% or greater COVID-19 positive test rate on a seven-day rolling average. According to Gov. Cuomo, as of today, that includes nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah, Texas, and Florida.

So, if you live in NY/NJ/CT and you visit Florida, you’ll be required to quarantine at home for 14 days upon your return. For some folks, this will make little difference in their lives, but if, for example, you have a Disney trip planned toward the end of the summer and you want to head back to work or have your kids head back to school in the early fall, the two weeks stuck at home could have a real negative impact on your life. A Disney vacation may not make sense if you have to restrict your movement when you get back home.

It’s worth noting that Florida has had a similar quarantine restriction for visitors from New York. Throughout the spring, New Yorkers traveling to Florida were asked to isolate for two weeks before going out. While there is still some confusion about the issue, we believe that the Florida rule for New Yorkers is set to expire on July 7. This means that it’s theoretically possible that you could go from New York to WDW today (as some of the WDW resorts are now open), have to quarantine at your hotel for two weeks, and then return back to NY and have to quarantine there for an additional two weeks. Sigh.

According to USA Today, if someone is caught in NY violating a quarantine rule, they could be subject to a $2,000 fine for the first offense.

As with everything else in the brave new world of Coronavirus, this is all a moving target. There is no specific date for the quarantine rule to end and the rules are subject to change.

If you live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut, does this change your thinking about a Disney trip? Do you have a trip booked this summer? Will you still go? Let us know in the comments.