Will you comply with the 14-day quarantine returning to NJ?

Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that by midnight a new travel advisory is going into effect. Anyone coming into New Jersey from states where COVID-19 cases are spiking has to quarantine for 14 days. This is a tri-state initiative with the governors of New York and Connecticut all working together.

What states are we talking about? At present, the list includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. Indeed many new cases are erupting in plenty of states, a lot of them where they rushed to reopen. 34,700 new cases were reported in just one day this week, Tuesday. There were only two other days in the U.S. when slightly more cases were reported. Those was April 9 and April 24. Clearly the pandemic is not done with us. New Jersey alone is pushing 13,000 deaths out of roughly 170,000 confirmed cases.

So how is this going to be enforced? Obviously that's the million dollar question. I assume they'll take your name at airports, perhaps have you sign some document stating you understand you are legally required to isolate for 14 days. But will people do it? Will the government follow through if they can ever prove you didn't?

They don't issue an order like this without realizing it's a tough putt getting people to comply. I think what they hope for is enough people taking it seriously and opting to think about their fellow human beings to just go along with it. However it's a lot to ask. Especially dropping it like this with no warning. Announcing it the very same day it is to go into effect at midnight leaves many people who are away right now in a lurch. Let's say you were on vacation until Friday and you're supposed to return to work on Monday. You had no idea any of this was coming. Are you really in a position to tell your boss you now need two more weeks off on top of the one you just took?

My own kids are going to be technically under this. They are supposed to meet their biological mother for her visitation this summer in Florida. With them returning in late August this means their last two weeks of summer break would be spent sitting in the house not seeing friends.

So what would you do? You may be facing this in reality with an upcoming trip, or a trip you're smack dab in the middle of right now when they added this rule. But even only in theory, would you comply? Take our poll below.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.