Governor Charlie Baker traveled to Florida on Thursday after a death in the family and will return Monday, a spokeswoman said Thursday night.
The governor is meeting his wife, Lauren, in Florida to “attend to family affairs,” according to his office. The trip is the first time Baker is leaving Massachusetts since he cut a family vacation in Utah short almost a year ago to return to the state and declare a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 10.
“The governor and first lady will comply with all Massachusetts travel protocols,” spokeswoman Sarah Finlaw said.
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Under the travel rules ordered by Baker, all those traveling to Massachusetts, or residents returning to the state, from every state but Hawaii must quarantine for 10 days or produce a negative COVID-19 test result that was administered within 72 hours of their arrival.
Travelers can be tested once they return, but they must immediately begin a 10-day quarantine until they receive a negative test result or risk facing a fine of $500 per day.
Hawaii is the only state considered to be low-risk under Massachusetts’s guidelines.
Baker has, at times, held near daily news conferences in the year since the pandemic upended daily life across the state. He has often talked openly about the impact COVID-19, and the restrictions he’s put in place to combat the virus, have had on his own life, from restricting how often he can see his father, who lives in Massachusetts, or curtailing his family’s holiday traditions.
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattpstout.