The Potential Cost Of Vacationing: States Impose Travel Restrictions With Financial Consequences For People Who Defy Them
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Going on vacation in the remaining weeks of summer?
You may find some states have imposed some COVID-19 restrictions and will fine you if you don't comply.
For most Americans, the right to travel anywhere in the country is taken for granted.
But COVID-19 has led some states to impose restrictions on travel, which you need to consider before going on vacation.
Thinking of going to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail or relax on the nearby beaches?
WATCH: KDKA's Jon Delano Has More On Travel Restrictions
Think again! Massachusetts is one of those states that has Pennsylvania on a list of residents that must abide by special rules to visit.
"The restrictions in these states and the restrictions here in Pennsylvania have been changing," Jim Garrity, spokesperson for AAA East Central, told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Wednesday.
For example, effective August 1, Pennsylvanians must get a COVID-19 test and test negative before going to Massachusetts unless you quarantine yourself there for fourteen days.
It's mandatory with an up to a $500 a day fine for violating.
"I think that's ridiculous, personally," says Joe Wheat, a travel agent in Pittsburgh.
Wheat calls it "overkill."
"I don't agree with being made to take a test, medical or otherwise. I think it's a person's choice."
New York and New Jersey have similar 14-day quarantine rules for more than 30 states, but Pennsylvania is not on their list. So no problem for us going to the Jersey Shore or the Statue of Liberty.
As for the Carolina beaches, no travel restrictions going there from here.
But when you return from many states in the South, Pennsylvania recommends, but does not mandate, that you quarantine at home here for fourteen days.
"Two of the states on that list of twenty states in Pennsylvania are the Carolinas, which are very big beach destinations, especially for here in Pittsburgh," notes Garrity.
Bottom line: before you head out-of-state, check the rules.
