BUFFALO, N.Y. — Several more states opened back up on Friday, and several more are planning to relax their coronavirus related stay at home orders in the next week.
This may tempt residents of some states like New York, where rules may not be relaxed for a while and where cabin fever is raging to travel.
This may be especially tempting in a year where, according to the most recent weather forecasts, the warm sunny days of spring also appear to be something that is on “pause” this year.
I just need to get away
It might not be a typical “vacation,” as even in states that are reopening many of the major attractions that draw tourists remain closed.
But for some with nothing else to do, there might be some allure to just going someplace — if, for no other reason, to be able to do things we can't do heere, such as eat in restaurant, catch a movie, shop in mall, get a haircut, or go to church.
Traveling for pleasure though is still being discouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it also might pose challenges.
For example, even if you are comfortable in boarding a plane where social distancing would be difficult, flights might be difficult to find.
Others might be tempted to travel by car, although before packing up and hitting the open road, there are some things to take into consideration according to Sarah Feldman, a AAA travel consultant, who reminds that rules and restrictions may very in each state you might pass through.
Know before you go
“We’re getting constant daily updates from different states as far as if there’s checkpoints along the way or if there’s issues with hotels being closed down,” Feldman told WGRZ-TV. “It's obviously an ever changing, very fluid situation that we are going through right now.”
In addition, just because certain states are opening, it doesn’t mean they are encouraging visitor. In fact, some are still strongly discouraging outsiders.
While constitutionally states cannot prohibit residents of another state from entering, they can require quarantines or statements of purpose.
Florida still requires travelers from New York and a handful of other states that it considers to be “hot spots” for cases of the virus to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.
Though it might be difficult to enforce that, someone coming in for a short visit, should they abide by the rules, might not have much fun as, in all practicality, they couldn’t do much more than they could do here.
