BOSTON (WHDH) - Travelers to Massachusetts are looking for tests to prove they don’t have the coronavirus so they don’t have to isolate for two weeks under new regulations.
Visitors and residents returning from 42 states have to isolate for 14 days if they can’t prove they don’t have the virus, according to the regulations designed to reduce the spread from high-risk areas.
Austin Resh-Graf and his friends arrived in Massachusetts from Minnesota on Monday, two days after the new regulations took effect, en route to Cape Cod for a golfing trip. Resh-Graff said the group managed to get tested in the window before they left for Boston, but not early to make the tests no longer acceptable.
“It’s tough because we don’t get results for three to four days and they want it in the next 72 hours, so it’s a little tough to navigate that … get it in time, but we managed,” he said.
State officials also want travelers to go online and submit information about where they’re coming from and where they’re going. People who don’t get tests and violate the two-week isolation could face fines of $500 a day, but it’s unclear how officials will enforce the penalty.
“There’s not really a good system in place to keep track, so I think the effort and the intention is good but I don’t see the execution of it working out that well,” said Chandni Patel, who was returning home to Massachusetts from Georgia. “Hopefully we’ll have people honor it and that’s all we can count on right now.”
A Massachusetts Lodging Association spokesperson said hotels and motels will inform visitors of the new rules, but won’t police them.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)