New Jersey will join New York in a plan to have airline passengers answer questions about where they have traveled from to gather health information.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said that the electronic questionnaire could be rolled out as soon as the end of the week.

Under the plan, travelers flying into Newark Liberty International Airport, Atlantic City Airport or other airports in the state, will be encouraged to pull out their phones and answer questions.

“The questionnaire is short. It’s, ‘Where are you coming from?’ ‘Where have you traveled?’ And ‘How can we contact you?’” Persichilli said.

It is to follow New York’s plan to collect information to see if the travelers are coming from the more than 20 states on the travel advisory list where COVID-19 infections are high.

“We are the United States of America. I say this with a heavy heart – I would love to be able to stop people and turn them around at our borders…We can’t. That’s not the way the United States works,” Murphy said.

Democratic Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, a leading advocate for civil liberties, says that he is a bit leery of the plan.

“This is true of any time you collect information. So, do I have concerns? I always do,” he says. “But the fact that it will be deleted after 30 days, as it should be because it’s no longer needed, gives me a certain level of comfort and the fact that this is purely voluntary.”

The state Department of Health says that the voluntary travel advisory initiative is being developed alongside the airports, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and local health departments. The Health Department declined to say how much the program would cost and if there are plans to expand the initiative to those entering by train or car.

Zwicker is sponsoring a bill that would require the state to delete all the information collected by contact tracers after 90 days.