Quarantines may be imposed on New York, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
More than 50 percent of COVID-19 cases in the United States are in the New York area. Most of those are in New York City.
Trump told reporters as he left the White House that some people want to see New York quarantined.
"I'm thinking about that right now. We might not have to do it but there's a possibility sometime today we'll do a quarantine—short-term, two weeks—on New York, probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut," Trump said.
The president cited the number of New Yorkers flying to Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a mandatory quarantine for people from New York or New Jersey arriving at airports because of the "thousands" who fled stay at home orders.
The quarantine would be "enforceable," Trump said.
The president was flying to Norfolk, Virginia to attend a send-off ceremony for the USNS Comfort. The U.S. Navy ship was heading to New York to help in the response to the CCP virus.
The president told those assembled in Virginia that "our nation is at war with an invisible enemy."
Trump indicated a day prior he was considering a quarantine.
"We're being very strong on quarantine and on people not leaving, especially certain states and going to other states where they have less of a problem," Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump said he hears "constantly about people leaving New York and going to Florida," adding: "Understand, we are not playing games."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters in Albany on Saturday afternoon that he didn't speak with the president about the possible quarantine.
State officials have dismissed calls from the White House for people who left the New York metropolitan area within the past two weeks to quarantine themselves wherever they are until 14 days have elapsed from when they left the region.
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said at a press conference in Washington on Friday that the calls stemmed from concerns about those people.
"It was for them to voluntarily self-isolate and take care of themselves because we felt they could be exposed and we wanted to alert them that the rates in New York City were high and increasing and that they were probably exposed during some of the most exposure time period before the mitigation efforts went in," she said.
“I understand this is an extreme measure,” Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo told reporters on Thursday, adding that the measure was needed because New York City and the surrounding areas are a “hot zone and the infection rate is skyrocketing.”