It is a quieter than usual week down the shore in the Wildwoods. The tourism authority notes that the week after the Fourth of July is always slower. Add in the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is even quieter.

The area is used to relying on Delaware residents to show up to boost tourism, but this may not happen now. Not since Gov. Phil Murphy and the governors of New York and Connecticut added Delaware to a growing list of states where residents will have to quarantine for 14 days before they can go out in public if they visit.

“I was surprised because, I’ll tell you after following all of this, Delaware was always a state that had the least amount of cases being reported and they did a great job, in my opinion and now to have them added to the list, yeah, I was surprised,” says Wildwoods Tourism Authority executive director John Siciliano.

The authority says that 90% of their tourism dollars come from visitors from states like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York and even Delaware. Now that Delaware is on the travel advisory list, it could have an even more detrimental effect on shore businesses.

“We’re just hoping that our businesses can do what they have to do to survive this summer,” Siciliano says.

The executive director says that the 14-day quarantine requirement may be difficult for some families.

“If you’re a family and you’re coming on vacation for five days or seven days and you have to quarantine for 14 days, I think it changes your plans and it definitely has a negative impact,” Siciliano says.

The Wildwoods Tourism Authority says that they are constantly looking at the effects COVID-19 has caused, but won’t know the full impact the virus had on the summer until late fall.

There are now 19 states on the travel advisory list.