The federal government can authorize quarantine through the Public Health Service Act in conjunction with executive orders that state the specific diseases that are quarantinable. There are also international laws as well as state specific laws. This week we will look at those laws.
There are two parts to this week’s discussion:
Part 1:
1. Define and discuss the difference between quarantine and isolation.
Part 2: You have an option of answering option 1 or 2.
Option 1:
Compare and contrast quarantine/isolation laws for human communicable diseases at the international, national, and state level. Use resources in the lessons for international and national laws and use this resource for state laws: http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-quarantine-and-isolation-statutes.aspx#1. Find your state in the table in the website given above and read the authority, penalties, and police law and limitations (if given). Is the language too specific or too broad to be effective? Are the penalties fair? Who has the authority to implement quarantine and under what circumstances? Please also see your state’s laws directly and conduct further research on whether it has ever been enacted. (State of Florida)
Option 2:
Many times quarantine is enacted on a voluntary basis but there have been times in modern history where quarantine has been mandatory. Review a case of mandatory quarantine/isolation and how the laws were used to enforce it. Examples include Andrew Speaker and MDR-TB in 2007 or Kaci Hickox and Ebola in 2014. You may find another case to use but it should be within the last 10-20 years. We will discuss ethical concerns next work, so just look at these cases from a legal standpoint. Was enforcement necessary? Was it legal? Were the laws sufficient or not enough in this case?
Discussion Guidelines