Offering the first detailed account of how New York State’s quarantine order for travelers returning from West Africa will be put into effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration has issued guidelines that go beyond federal recommendations but seek to allow people to choose where to spend their enforced isolation.

The state protocols show an effort by the administration to portray the quarantine, which has been criticized as excessive by some experts and doctors’ organizations, in a humane manner.

The protocols are meant to ensure “a respectful and supportive approach” to arriving travelers, who are supposed to be “treated with the utmost respect and concern,” according to a document prepared by the State Health Department that outlines the screening procedures.