T. wrote: “Do you have any idea why the Sheriff’s Office has been on Laight Street for the past four days? On Sunday afternoon there were about 21 of them (yes, I counted) stopping cars coming from the tunnel.”

This is part of the coronavirus checkpoint plan announced in August and just finding its way to the Holland Tunnel now. The officers told me that they pull over the first five cards of each light change, hand them a flyer, and remind them that New York City recommends that people wear masks and stay six feet apart from each other. It’s an education campaign, they said.

The checkpoints move around the city to different bridges and tunnels on purpose, and the cars are pulled over at random.

People from high-risk states are also required to register, and they are handed a form. The travel advisory is a state rule that the city will enforce with a $10,000 fine if necessary. If visitors come from one of 34 high risk states (based on a seven-day rolling average of positive tests in excess of 10 percent) they are required to quarantine for 14 days.