New York City debuts quarantine checkpoints

New York City - which has made great strides in its fight against coronavirus - is getting even stricter about out of town guests.

Starting Wednesday, there will be checkpoints at key entry locations to make sure travelers from 35 designated states comply with New York’s mandatory 14-day quarantine order.

Mayor Bill De Blasio: “Travelers coming in from those states will be given information about the quarantine. They will be reminded that it is required, not optional. They'll be reminded that failure to quarantine is a violation of state law. And it comes with serious penalties. In fact under certain circumstances, the fines can be as high as $10,000."

The Sheriff's Office, in coordination with other law enforcement agencies, will begin the checkpoints at major bridge and tunnel crossings into the city.

And on Thursday - teams will be deployed at Manhattan’s usually bustling Penn Station.

The city is not taking chances... as a fifth of all new coronavirus cases are from out-of-state travelers, according to the head of New York City’s contract tracing program.

Director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute Dr. Ashish Jha - who has been a proponent of aggressive testing and slow reopenings - praised New York state Wednesday as ‘a wonderful success story.’

Tweeting: "New York… Doing 67,000 tests a day… Finding 670 cases a day…1% test positivity. This is South Korea level. And its awesome."

Once the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, New York City has taken strong steps to control the virus.

Masks are mandatory and indoor dining still banned… as are bars, gyms, malls, movie theaters and museums.