HOUSTON — After the New Orleans area became a coronavirus hot spot, Texas state troopers were dispatched to the Louisiana border to screen travelers. The move came after Governor Greg Abbott ordered that everyone coming in from Louisiana to self-quarantine for 14 days to help limit the spread of coronavirus.
KHOU 11 Investigates analyzed the checkpoint data to find out how many travelers were pulled over.
The travel restriction came in late March with Governor Abbott ordering that all vehicles coming into Texas from Louisiana be stopped and directed to fill out paperwork detailing where they would spend the next 14 days.
The Texas Department of Public Safety set up 12 checkpoints along interstates and roadways in Harrison County, Panola County, Orange County, Jefferson County, Newton County, Sabine County, Shelby County, Cass County and Marion County.
KHOU 11 Investigates obtained the daily tally of vehicles screened at each stop and a log of how many people were required to fill out paperwork agreeing to self-quarantine for two weeks.
From April 5 to April 27, troopers screened 285,819 cars. Of those, 11,924 filled out self- quarantine forms.
We found, over the 23-day-period, troopers issued the most forms along the southeast Texas border.
The checkpoint with the largest volume of paperwork was on I-10 in Orange County. More than half (6,744) of all the forms processed in the entire state came from that stop.
The second highest came from checkpoints in Newton county. Just over 1,000 forms were issued there, followed by Shelby county with 354.
A screening station in Marion county, in northeast Texas, had the smallest paper trail with seven forms completed.
We also asked DPS for a list of the locations where those travelers were going to self-quarantine. But they did not give us that information.
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