"Right now, we have a pinpointed risk that we need to address, and we need to be very serious and that risk is called New York City," said Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo at a news conference Friday.
Starting Saturday, Rhode Island law enforcement officers and the National Guard will be "going door-to-door" in coastal communities, asking people if they've been to New York and requesting their contact information, she sai
Police began monitoring highways at noon Friday and may pull over individuals with New York state license plates to ask the same questions, particularly on the base of the Newport Bridge, Raimondo said.
Tara Koppie was driving to Rhode Island from Staten Island, New York, on Friday to pick up a puppy she recently adopted, CNN affiliate WPRI reported. She had to stop at a checkpoint on Interstate 95 operated by Rhode Island State Police and soldiers from the Rhode Island National Guard.
"I feel bad that New York is getting such a bad rap sheet when it's really all over the place, you know, it shouldn't be that way, but unfortunately right now we have a lot of cases," Koppie told WPRI. She said she was planning to return home the same day.