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While the nation navigates its way through stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Rhode Island have gone a step further by imposing limitations on what out-of-state residents can purchase in their states and whether such residents should be forced to self-quarantine when entering those states' borders.
The latest situation began Saturday and continued this week, when county health officers in three West Virginia counties -- Monongalia, Brooke and Hancock -- ordered that liquor stores in those counties could only sell to state residents.
This became an issue beginning March 17 after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered liquor stores in his state to close, leading to a steady flow of travelers crossing the state border.
All three West Virginia counties border Pennsylvania, with Brooke and Hancock counties being about a half-hour drive from Pittsburgh.
Reached Wednesday, employees at liquor stores in Maryland didn't want to give their names, but judging from their comments, business has been brisk.
"We have seen a lot of people from Pennsylvania," said an employee at Parkview Liquor Store in Cumberland. "It's been crazy. That's all I can say. It has been fantastic for us."
An employee at Bedford Road Liquor Store in Cumberland wasn't quite as enthused.
"We are seeing just about as many as normal, not a big increase," the employee said. "People are scared and are staying where they are supposed to be. Our business is a little slow."
An employee at North End Liquors in Hancock, Md., said, "We are right on the border of Fulton County and usually get a lot of Pennsylvania people."
PLCB spokesman Shawn Kelley said Wednesday that customers can continue to log on to www.FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com to place an order. The website is accepting a controlled number of orders per day to avoid overwhelming the site with high traffic, prevent order abuse and prolong access throughout the day.
"We're fulfilling orders from multiple facilities (three at this point, one each in Pittsburgh, Montgomery County and Wilkes-Barre), using a combination of PLCB employees and contractors," Kelley said. "The PLCB has implemented public health best practices like facility sanitation, social distancing and limiting the numbers of employees working in any facility at a time in an effort to protect its employees."
In its first week, the PLCB accepted nearly 7,800 online orders and had nearly $708,000 in sales.
In order to keep numbers of COVID-19 cases down in West Virginia, the Monongalia County Health Department on Saturday issued a public health order to control the sale of liquor, including banning sales to anyone without a West Virginia-issued driver's license or state identification.
Dr. Lee B. Smith, executive director of the Monongalia County Health Department, said the quick access to West Virginia from Pennsylvania allows for residents of both states to travel back and forth effortlessly.
"Our (positive COVID-19) numbers are starting to increase exponentially," Smith said Monday. "If you add up all the diagnosed cases from our region, we have 88."
What was done in West Virginia with banning liquor sales stands for now but is "highly suspect" when it comes to the constitution, West Virginia University constitutional law professor Robert Bastress said.
"In my opinion, the governor's ban on out-of-staters coming to West Virginia to buy liquor is highly suspect," Bastress said. "The state cannot erect barriers to out-of-state buyers and sellers, even in a time of a pandemic. So long as the liquor stores are open to West Virginians, they must be equally accessible to buyers from outside the state."
Liquor sales are but one aspect of this crisis.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during an epidemic, the federal government is authorized to take action to prevent the entry of communicable diseases and use quarantine and isolation at U.S. ports of entry. The federal government also can take measures against the spread of disease between states.
State and local governments and tribal authorities can only impose and enforce isolation and quarantine within their borders, according to the CDC.
The last federal quarantine was during the 1918 Spanish Flu. However, with COVID-19, some states have issued their own stay-at-home orders. As of April 1, all counties in Pennsylvania are under such an order.
The stay-at-home order in Pennsylvania has led to at least one citation, as published reports indicate authorities cited a 19-year-old woman in York County, Pennsylvania, for violating the governor's stay-at-home order.
Anita Shaffer was going for a drive when she was stopped by state troopers. The citation will cost her at least $200, and it's a charge to which she plans to plead not guilty, according to reports.
Other states have taken different routes with controlling COVID-19.
Although West Virginia was the last state to report a positive case of COVID-19, its governor, Jim Justice, ordered anyone coming into West Virginia from a high-risk COVID-19 state or country to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival. Justice also authorized the West Virginia State Police to monitor state roads and highways to enforce that order, though he said troopers would not be stopping vehicles with out-of-state plates at this time.
"For those who are crossing our state lines conducting interstate commerce, or commuting for work or essential business, military duty or health and medical care reasons, we don't want to impede you," he said. "This is aimed at people from Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Italy or China, and other places where COVID-19 has spread substantially. We have to do everything we can to protect our citizens and these folks have got to self-isolate if they are going to come here."
In New York, with the nation's highest number of cases and deaths, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has extended his "New York State on PAUSE" through April 29.
"I know that's a negative for many, many reasons. I know what it does to the economy, but as I said from day one, I am not going to choose between public health and economic activity," Cuomo said. "If we are plateauing, we are plateauing at a high level. We have to continue the social distancing. … There is a real danger in getting overconfident too quickly. This is an enemy that we have underestimated from day one and we have paid the price dearly."
Those in the state of New York are only allowed to leave home for essential items such as grocery shopping or going to the pharmacy.
LynAnne Vucovich is reporter for The Norwalk (Ohio) Reflector. Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank contributed to this report.