COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday a travel advisory for all individuals coming into Ohio from states reporting positive testing rates of 15% or higher for COVID-19.
“This situation is not unique. We have heard from multiple local health departments that they are tracing cases related to out-of-state travel,” DeWine said.
Trips to states where there are high positivity rates, such as South Carolina and Florida, would constitute an individual to self-quarantine at home or in a hotel, DeWine said.
The governor stopped short of requiring a quarantine for people traveling from these states but said that people should self-quarantine at a home or in a hotel for 14 days.
DeWine said this applies to those who live in Ohio and those traveling here from these states, whether they are traveling for businesses or vacationing.
The following states are included in the travel advisory:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Mississippi
- Nevada
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Puerto Rico
This travel advisory comes after DeWine confirmed 28 out of the 45 students who traveled to Myrtle Beach together from Belmont County have tested positive for COVID-19.
Jim Garrity, spokesman for AAA East Central, said that like everything else, what happens in the world of travel "is changing. It's evolving."
Garrity said people taking a trip must consider a lot of factors, including travel advisories like the one issued Wednesday.
"At the end of the day, the decision to travel is a personal one," Garrity said.
He added, "There are many, many things to keep in mind, and I think that can give travelers a little bit of anxiety. And the best way to really get ahead of that anxiety and to kind of keep that at bay is to load yourself up with information."
AAA projects a 15% decrease in travel this summer, noting that the vast majority of travel will be by car, rather than by plane. Garrity said some travelers may choose to wait and see what happens going forward before making concrete plans.
"We're expecting to see a lot of kind of last-minute bookings," Garrity said.
Dr. Claudia Hoyen, who is the director of infection control at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and MacDonald Women's Hospital, as well as the co-director for the University Hospitals Health System, said the travel advisory is important in controlling COVID-19 spread, but she doesn't want Ohioans to lose sight of the importance of masking and following guidelines in Ohio.
"I don't want people in Ohio to lose sight of, you know, that it isn't here and that, 'I only need to worry if I go to South Carolina.' It is here. We just don't want to be Arizona," Hoyen said.
RELATED:Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announces statewide mask mandate, effective Thursday
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