New England travel options: Where can you go without quarantine or COVID-19 testing?

Spiking numbers of COVID-19 cases have made navigating New England trickier than any other time since the start of the pandemic.

Case in point: As of late October, every county in New Hampshire and Massachusetts exceeded Vermont's threshold for quarantine-free travel.

As of Thursday, Rhode Islanders held the distinction of being from the only New England state relegated to travel quarantines in both Massachusetts and Maine.

And just this week Connecticut officials added Massachusetts to their list of states from which visitors must self-quarantine for 14 days or have proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test if they plan stay more than 24 hours.

Vermont's travel map as of Oct. 27, 2020, shows all of New Hampshire and Massachusetts exceeding the state's threshold for quarantine-free travel.
Vermont's travel map as of Oct. 27, 2020, shows all of New Hampshire and Massachusetts exceeding the state's threshold for quarantine-free travel.

Is there quarantine-free reciprocity between New Hampshire and Vermont?

It is notable that residents from New Hampshire counties bordering Vermont are required to quarantine even though they have comparable rates of coronavirus cases to their counterparts across the Connecticut River. As of Thursday, all are between 300 and 600 cases per million residents

However, travel to New Hampshire requires no quarantine for those coming from anywhere in New England. Those traveling to New Hampshire from non-New England states must quarantine.

Can anyone go to Vermont?

Residents of Washington County, New York, are the only direct neighbors permitted to visit Vermont for anything other than essential travel. That county just snuck under the bar of 400 active cases per million residents (398) in the most recent update to the Green Mountain State's county-by-county travel map, unveiled by Gov. Phil Scott's administration on Tuesdays.

Vermont officials have deemed reasons for essential travel to include work, personal safety, medical care, care of others, parental shared custody, the purchase of food, beverage or medicine, or to attend school if commuting daily.

Lyman Bridge spans the Connecticut River to connect the towns of Hartford, Vermont and Lebanon, New Hampshire, a key thoroughfare in the closely linked Upper Valley communities.
Lyman Bridge spans the Connecticut River to connect the towns of Hartford, Vermont and Lebanon, New Hampshire, a key thoroughfare in the closely linked Upper Valley communities.

People should not travel to, from or within Vermont if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or meet the criteria for isolation and quarantine, according to the state's travel advisory.

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @eadanforth.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: New England: Where can you go without quarantine or COVID-19 testing?