Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-05T16:34:03.595Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Quarantine

from PART II - OPERATIONAL ISSUES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

Kristi L. Koenig
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Carl H. Schultz
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Get access

Summary

OVERVIEW

Quarantine has been used for centuries to sequester potentially infectious individuals, plants, and animals until they are deemed safe for reintroduction to the rest of society. Criteria for the use of quarantine have often been subjective or based on discriminatory practice; individuals and entire communities were often cast from society and denied access to essential services. Crude efforts have been largely ineffective. Definitive protocols on time and distance necessary to contain the disease are often missing, and the efficacy of differing levels of separation is not well documented. The legal authority to quarantine exists within many jurisdictions worldwide, under many state laws in the U.S. Clear and convincing evidence to support the action is, however, frequently difficult to establish, creating significant concerns over civil liberties. When quarantine is instituted, enforcement poses significant challenges. In addition, there are limited effective plans on how to provide or pay for the secondary effects of quarantine: lost wages, impact on business and services, and logistical support such as food, water, and medical services for those individuals in confinement.

The overall objective of quarantine is to prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that crude methods of quarantine are ineffective. Current guidelines diverge from quarantine and predetermined measures concentrated at borders alone to containment strategies focused on real-time epidemiology and evidence-based data.

Type
Chapter
Information
Koenig and Schultz's Disaster Medicine
Comprehensive Principles and Practices
, pp. 203 - 212
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

,World Health Organization. The World Health Report 2007: A Safer Future, Global Public Health Security in the 21st Century. Geneva: WHO.
Gostin, LO., Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint, 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press; Berkeley, CA; 2008.
,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smallpox Response Plan. March 2003. Available at: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/response-plan/files/guide-c-part-2.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2009.
Gostin, LO, Sapsin, J, Teret, SP, Burris, S, Mair, JS, Hodge, JG, Vernick, J, et al. The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act: Planning and response to bioterrorism and naturally occurring infectious diseases. JAMA. 2002;288:622–688.Google Scholar
Gostin, LO, Bayer, R, Fairchild, AM. Ethical and legal challenges posed by severe acute respiratory syndrome: implications for the control of severe infectious disease threats. JAMA. 2003;290:3229–3237.Google Scholar
,U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public Health Guidance of Community-Level Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Version 2, Supplement D: Community Containment Measures, Including Non-Hospital Isolation and Quarantine. January 8, 2004. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/guidance/D/pdf/d.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2009.
Fidler, DP, Gostin, LO. The New International Health Regulations: An historic development for international law and public health. J Law Med Ethics. 2006;33(4):85–94.Google Scholar
,World Health Organization. “Frequently asked questions about the International Health Regulations (2005)” Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/ihr/howtheywork/faq/en/index.html#whatis. Accessed January 14, 2009.
,World Health Organization, “States Parties to the International Health Regulations (2005).” Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/ihr/states_parties/en/index.html. Accessed January 14, 2009.
Barbera, J, Macintyre, A, Gostin, L, et al. Large-scale quarantine following biological terrorism in the United States: scientific examination, logistic and legal limits, and possible consequences. JAMA. 2001;286: 2711–2717.Google Scholar
Sochats, K, Model for global travel. University of Pittsburgh, Center for National Preparedness; 2007.
Fidler, DP, Gostin, LO, Markel, H. Through the quarantine looking glass: Drug-resistant tuberculosis and public health governance, law, and ethics. J Law Med Ethics. 2007;35:526–533.Google Scholar
Hitti, M. WebMD Medical News. Drug-resistant TB patient in isolation. Available at: WebMD Medical News. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=81465. Accessed January 14, 2009.
Pourbohloul, B, Meyers, , Skowronski, DM, Krajden, M, Patrick, DM, Brunham, R, Modeling control strategies of respiratory pathogens. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:1249–1256.Google Scholar
,U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Pandemic Influenza Plan Supplement 4 Infection Control. Available at: http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/sup4.html. Accessed January 14, 2009.
,World Health Organization. Weekly Epidemiological Record. 30 May 2003. Available at: No 22, 2003, 78. http://www.who.int/docstore/wer/pdf/2003/wer7822.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2009.
,U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public Health Guidance of Community-Level Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Version 2, Supplement D: Community Containment Measures, Including Non-Hospital Isolation and Quarantine. January 8, 2004.
,World Health Organization. International Health Regulations (2005), Annex 2. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/ihr/WHA58-en.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2009.
Gostin, Burris, and Lazzarini, . “The Law and the Public's Health: A Study of Infectious Disease Law in the United States;” Daniel S. Reich, “Modernizing Local Responses to Public Health Emergencies: Bioterrorism. Epidemics, and the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act,” Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy, 19 (2003):379–414.Google Scholar
Hodge, JG, Gostin, LO, Gebbie, K, Erickson, DL. Transforming public health law: The turning point model state public health act. J Law, Med & Ethics. 2006;33(4):77–84.Google Scholar
,Canada Library of Parliament. Bill C-42: An Act to amend the Quarantine Act. September 25, 2007. Available at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/bills_ls.asp?lang=E&ls=c42&source=library_prb&Parl=39&Ses=1. Accessed January 14, 2009.
,U.S. Code, Title 64. Available at: http://www.publichealthlaw.net/Resources/ResourcesPDFs/4quarantine.pdf. January 14, 2009.
“An Act Granting Additional Quarantine Powers and Imposing Additional Duties upon the Marine Hospital Service.” See Compagnie Francaise de Navigation a Vapeur v. State Board of Health, Louisiana, 186 U.S. 380, 395–96 (1902).
Hennington, v. Georgia, 163 U.S. 299 (1896) (holding that state police power regulation affecting commerce is valid until superseded by Congress); see also William H. Cowles WH., “State quarantine laws and the federal constitution.,” American Law Review. 1891;25:45–73.Google Scholar
Gibbons, v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1, 205–206 (1824) (“congress may control the state [quarantine] laws…for the regulation of commerce.”); Compagnie Francaise De Navigation a Vapeur v. Louisiana State Board of Health, 186 U.S. 380 (1902); United States v. Shinnick, 219 F. Supp. 789 (1963).
,Executive Order 13295 as amended, Revised List of Quarantinable Communicable Diseases. Code of Federal Regulations, title 3 (2003); Executive Order 13,375 of April 1, 2005: Amendment to Executive Order 13, 295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases. Code of Federal Regulations, title 3 (2005).
,Public Health Service Act §§361–368 (42 U.S.C. 264–271) (authorizing the Secretary to make and enforce regulations to prevent the introduction or transmission of communicable diseases from foreign countries and from one state into another); Department of Health and Human Services, Control of Communicable Diseases (Proposed Rule), 42 CFR Parts 70 and 71 (November 30, 2005).
Gostin, LO, Federal executive power and communicable disease control: CDC Quarantine Regulations., Hastings Center Report. 2006;36(2):10–11.Google Scholar
Fidler, DP, Gostin, LO, Markel, H, Through the Quarantine Looking Glass: Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis and Public Health Governance, Law, and Ethics, J Law, Med & Ethics. 2007;35:526–533.Google Scholar
,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Quarantine Stations Fact Sheet. Dec 2007. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/resources/Quarantine_Stations_Fact_Sheet.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2009.
,Institute of Medicine. Quarantine Stations at Ports of Entry Protecting the Public's Health, Executive Summary. September 2005. Available at: http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3783/22845/29602.aspx. Accessed January 14, 2009.
,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Hospital Infection Control Practices. Advisory Committee (HICPAC). Recommendations for isolation precautions in hospitals. Am J Infect Control. 1996;24:24–52.Google Scholar
,Joint Commission, Standing Together: An Emergency Planning Guide for America's Communities. Joint Commission, 2005. Available at: http://www.jointcommission.org/NR/rdonlyres/FE29E7D3-22AA-4DEB-94B2-5E8D507F92D1/0/planning_guide.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2009.
Vitek, v. Jones 445 U.S. 480, 491 (1980) (holding that an inmate was entitled to due process before transfer to mental institution); see Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 425 (1979) (holding that civil commitment is a “significant deprivation of liberty”).
Scott, Burris S., “Fear itself: AIDS, herpes and public health decisions.” Yale Law and Policy Review, 1985;3 (1985):479–518. See Kansas v. Crane, 534 U.S. 407 (2002) (holding that, in order to commit repeat sex offenders, the state must demonstrate “proof of serious difficulty in controlling behavior” which can distinguish a committable offender from a typical recidivist).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×