Arkansas governor: States ‘can’t be putting restrictions on each other across the country’

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said Sunday that states “can’t be putting restrictions on each other” after New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced a 14-day quarantine for travelers from states hit hard by coronavirus.

The Arkansas governor, whose residents would have to comply with the quarantine, said on ABC News’ “This Week” that it is “understandable” that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) instituted this policy, along with the two other states. 

{mosads}“So we’re just going to do better to get our cases down in Arkansas, but ultimately we can’t be putting restrictions on each other across the country because we do have to do two things — both manage the virus and manage the growth of our economy,” Hutchinson said. 

“And ultimately, whenever you see growth of cases from Texas to California, I don’t think New York wants to isolate themselves from — from every region of commerce that might have a spike in cases,” he added. 

He noted that Arkansas had the “same order” for travelers from New York at the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S., adding it has been lifted “because this virus has become like a fog going across the United States, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly.”

“I understand where they’re coming from,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson says when asked if NY Gov.Cuomo was justified in announcing quarantine for travelers from Arkansas.

“Ultimately, we can’t be putting these restrictions on each other across the country.” https://t.co/kLen3qgEGL pic.twitter.com/5sqKltpChi

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 28, 2020

Cuomo announced that people from states with an infection rate of more than 10 cases per 100,000 people on a seven-day rolling average have to quarantine for two weeks when arriving in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.

California, Texas and Florida have paused their reopening efforts in the midst of rising cases. 

Hutchinson didn’t say whether the state will reverse course on its reopening plans, but he said the state will not move onto the third phase of reopening “until we make sure that we get a handle on our current cases.” 

His state has documented a total of 18,577 confirmed cases of COVID-19, leading to 259 deaths, according to the state health department.

The Arkansas governor called for another doubling of testing nationwide, saying the demand for testing supplies is “only going to increase.”

“If we are going to have school, which we plan on doing next year, if we’re going to have other activities that we like in society, it all depends on the ability to test and know what the radar shows is where the virus is, so we can go in and isolate it, we can trace it down,” he said.