Strict Out-of-State Travel Order Begins Saturday

An out-of-state travel order from Gov. Charlie Baker requires visitors from most of the country to fill out a Massachusetts Travel Form before travel and quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

An out-of-state travel order from Gov. Charlie Baker effective Aug. 1 requires visitors from most of the country to fill out a Massachusetts Travel Form before travel and quarantine for 14 days upon arrival — or face a daily, $500 fine.

The order and its enforcement has outsized implications for seasonal tourist destinations like the Vineyard, posing challenges for its local boards of health and transportation agencies as it arrives just in time for the traditionally busiest month of the Island’s summer.

“I think that the main point of this order was to persuade visitors to cancel or postpone their visits until their state is considered low risk,” Tisbury health agent Maura Valley said in an interview with the Gazette. “But, it really relies heavily on voluntary compliance — on people understanding the importance of this, and actually going on to fill out the form.”

According to the order, any visitor from out of state is required to fill out the online travel form, which asks travelers for their contact information, the dates of their stay in Massachusetts and to check a box ensuring that they do not have Covid-19 symptoms. Anyone traveling from states that are considered low risk is exempt from the order, including Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii. Rhode Island taken off the exemption list starting Aug. 7 because of a surge of cases there.

Visitors who receive a negative Covid-19 test result within 72 hours of travel or upon arrival are also exempt. But because test results are now taking an average of seven days, almost any out-of-state traveler will be required to quarantine for some period of time.

The information in the form is then compiled in the state public health database and shared with local boards of health, according to Ms. Valley, meaning that Island officials will know which travelers on the Vineyard are required to quarantine. Ms. Valley said that the state also plans to send daily text reminders to travelers about the rules.

Hotels, motels, AirBnBs and short-term rentals are all required to inform their guests of the guidelines as well, according to the order. And all airlines and buses originating outside the low-risk states have to do the same.

Ms. Valley said enforcement would still be tricky and that the order relied heavily on voluntary compliance.

“The way the order is written, it has the DPH enforcing it with assistance from local or state police if needed, or from local boards of health upon request,” she said. “So it can get a little confusing about where the enforcement is going to be.”

Health agents said it stands to reason that travelers who fill out the form are more likely to comply with the guidelines — their concern is with those who do not fill out the form.

“We do have the authority to issue a $500 fine,” Ms. Valley said. “That could come into play, if, for example, we find out that they were in close contact to a confirmed case and they should have been quarantining, or something similar to that. We do have that authority.”

Steamship Authority spokesman Sean Driscoll said the boat line plans to post signs at its off-Island ports in Hyannis and Falmouth, make announcements at terminals about the new regulations, attach the form to confirmation emails and include links and information about the form on its reservation app. Mr. Driscoll also said the SSA would use its travel alert system to inform reservation holders prior to their travel that they need to fill out the form.

But he said the SSA would not be making the form a requirement for travel.

“We’re not going to be questioning people necessarily as they are checking in. They need to put it on themselves to be investigating this,” Mr. Driscoll said. “And they are supposed to do it before they get to the state anyway.”

A pop-up now appears immediately on the Martha’s Vineyard Airport website that includes a form explaining the new guidelines and regulations for air travelers. A similar informational link appears on the Steamship website.

Mr. Driscoll cited a variety of factors for why the SSA could not require car passengers with “high-risk” state license plates to fill out the form, including the fact that someone with out-of-state plates may have been residing in Massachusetts or nearby states for the requisite time frame. The SSA is different from airlines, buses or trains, he said.

“We don’t know that everybody coming to our port has to [fill out the form]. If you have a flight full of people coming from Nebraska, you know everybody has to,” Mr. Driscoll said. “We are really looking at our role as education . . . we don’t have any role in the collection and enforcement of it.”

The state Department of Public Health has also has a 211 number that concerned residents can call regarding Covid-19 issues, which will then dispatch to local boards of health if follow-up is necessary. Ms. Valley said boards of health were still working out their level of involvement with the order, and noted that it would likely be unproductive for residents to call in every out-of-state license plate they saw.

Getting people to fill out the form, Ms. Valley said, is key.

“It comes down to people being honest, and doing this,” she said.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 08/01/2020 - 07:42

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Christine Todd Oak Bluffs

I do believe we are well beyond the point of "education". Ticket writing with both mask compliance and this 14 day quarantine are essential to make the message crystal clear. The governors word are empty without it. We want our visitors and residents to be here safely...don't we?

Wayne W. MVI

Strict out of state Orders
Saturday. All his Orders to date have been uneforceable and you as a county commissioner should know when you stood on the side of the road with your little sign and everyone just snickered and laughed at you.
What makes you think they will obey these Orders?
You Commissioners could have done much More and Sooner!

Islander MV

You are a leader of the business community and an elected official. Can you please explain specifically what you want to see changed in enforcement and who you would like to make those changes? Please treat this like a business proposal with sources of funding, staff, and legal strategy and risks.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 08/01/2020 - 08:37

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Charlie Callahan So Boston/Edgartown

What about the locals who work in NY and come back on the weekends,or walkons for the ferry with bicycles,or boaters etc etc. This is unenforceable and ridiculous.There are plenty of locals who travel all the time and aren't quarantining.

Rebecca OB

Let me read the article for you: “ Anyone traveling from states that are considered low risk is exempt from the order, including all New England states, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii.”

Mary West Tiz

Well NY is not on the list of high risk states according to this article.....and the surrounding states are not either. I don’t think too many people are commuting to/from MV for work to states outside New England area?

Agree that it will be hard to enforce though.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 08/01/2020 - 10:07

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Shelley Edgartown

This is ridiculous! Does anyone think it will happen? So people who have rental homes for two weeks will have to stay inside their rentals for two weeks, men, women and children stuck inside? And will their paranoid, tourist hating neighbors make making continuous phone calls to the Board of Health or the police department to report on them if they don’t comply? The whole damn world has lost its collective mind!

Islander MV

Neighborhood watch at its best. You need a vacation? We need our island safe as possible so our kids can get back to school and not make grandma sick. You are ok in Chilmark on twenty acres but down island you better bet the calls to the state will come in fast and furious. Will the state prioritize these? Well, the governor himself said yesterday that contempt for public safety on the cape and islands by tourists and seasonal workers catering to those tourists was responsible for the dramatic uptick in positivity rates statewide. He singled out Falmouth, Chatham, Nantucket and MV. You think he is going to let the entire biotech and finance economic engine get set back to phase two because of our little crappy tourist economy that barely moves the needle on the state budget? We are messing up his numbers. He will dedicate resources to enforcement. Play by the rules is my best advice. Ask yourself, is pretending all is well and bad stuff only happens to the other guy really morally ok here? And if you don’t care, there are a lot of stressed out islanders who will insist you don’t infect them through all legal channels available. The neighbors are watching...

J. Graham MV

In lieu of being cooped up for two weeks people from high risk states could just admit to themselves that there’s a pandemic going on and stay home. Vacation is a want, not a need.

AM 02539

Great and accurate comment. Sadly, the average American views a vacation, and the ability to do whatever they want, how ever they want, to be an inalienable right.

AJ Newport, RI

In support and respect for the full/part time residents of MV and due to the fact that we are unable to get a negative COVID-19 test result in 72hrs - we painfully decided to cancel our annual vacation to Martha's Vineyard :-(. It is unfortunate, but until we have definitive way to abide by the laws of MA + ensure public health safety, we just have to suck it up this year. Our decision is not political just HUMAN. It would be nice if more people were law abiding, respectful to fellow American and just understanding of the times. Everyone loves to either politicize this health crisis or be nasty to anyone that does not agree w/ their narrow-minded views attacking common sense public safety precautions. If the entire country just locked down like we did in RI from March to June, we would not have all these states surging and could have looser public health guidelines (not to mention allowing our kids to go back to school). We cannot have our cake and eat it too - let's just all come together, do what the state/health experts need us to do and unify our country (stop the debating). #Disappointed-but-understanding-in-RhodeIsland.

Carol formerly Chilmark

Shelley, your comment is amazing. Do you really not understand that we're in a pandemic? Of a disease that has killed so far 150,000+ Americans in a few short months? Yes, it is - um - inconvenient for you. Wow. Your level of denial is quite surprising.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/02/2020 - 00:48

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steve

In taking the ferry back to Woods Hole tonight, we noticed 6 people (out of maybe 10) on the lower deck not wearing masks. Not even pretending — not in hand or on the neck. Not a word from the SSA. If they won’t police the little stuff, you won’t get the form filled out either.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/02/2020 - 17:06

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P PA

My husband and I will arrive planning to quarantine until our test results are returned, the tests having been taken within 72 hours of our arriving in Massachusetts. If we weren't willing to comply we would not come. Food-wise we will bring some staples and ask friends to drop off a few perishables on our doorstep. It is do-able and we are grateful that the island is allowing non-owners to come at all. Once we are given the all-clear we plan to enjoy wonderful produce and fish prepared at home interspersed with some take out dinners. We also look forward to a few socially distant visits with good friends. It will be a quiet and restorative vacation. I am thankful there is a way to make it happen.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/02/2020 - 18:54

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Bob Philadelphia

We self-quarantined in March and have stayed home the entire summer. Distancing, masks, etc. I would love to go to MV this fall. I want to go to MV this fall. BUT I don't NEED to go to MV this fall. We will stay home and/or go elsewhere.

"I think that the main point of this order was to persuade visitors to cancel or postpone their visits until their state is considered low risk" sums it best.

Will this help MV (and Massachusetts) stay Safe? IMO - NO. It mistakenly assumes that everyone from the "safe" states is trusted and safe (even if they have COVID-19 and are asymptomatic?). Everyone from the other "unsafe" states is a threat. Actually not much different than the EU shutting down visitors from the US. It's a safe political CYA rule.

FYI - some of those "safe" states are getting "hot" - NJ and RI. Things will still change.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 08/03/2020 - 08:15

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Disgruntled Tisbury

I am just totally sick of all the noncompliance and non enforceable of all these useless orders from our governor and seeing all the police and their Boards of Health not working together!
I have Absolutely no confidence,faith or respect anymore for any of them and that definitely also includes the SSA!!

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