With the outbreak of COVID-19, most people do not know whether the law has the power to restrict their movement, demand isolation or test. With that in mind, reading an overview of what the law has to say about quarantine and isolation is essential. The federal government has what it takes to restrict your movement between states and also take other measures it deems reasonable toward the prevention of the spread of disease. The center for disease control director has the mandate to limit your movement under such circumstances. An individual deemed to have a contagious disease may be apprehended and detained in a case where he or she is believed to move between states and infect others. Detain may be based on a reasonable belief of a disease and not the actual disease.
The government has powers to perform prevention measures especially in places like seaports, bus stations, airports, railway stations and any other places where people gather for interstate travel. The government has powers to question people, check their travel history and may also conduct or run noninvasive procedures and testing. Read on this site for further details.
People subject to isolation or quarantined may be subjected to a medical examination to determine their health status as well as whether they are a risk to others. The examination may include physical examination, questioning, and collection of biological samples for lab testing. One may be fined up to $250,000 in an instance where violation results to death and a fine up to $100,000 in instances where the violation does not result in death. The fines tend to double when it comes to organizations. The public health service act, on the other hand, tends to give the government powers similar powers to detain and examine people with communicable illnesses.
The law also mandates each state government with powers to isolate and quarantine ill people within its borders. One may, however, need to note that penalties for compliance tend to vary from one state to the other. In almost every state, it is a criminal offense to fail to abide by an order of isolation or quarantine. One can be charged with a felony in states such as Mississippi, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Texas.
One would need to avoid instances where he or she is diagnosed with coronavirus and then leave against medical advice and find himself or herself on the other side of the law. One may be forced to stay in the house, get fined or even punished in any other way the judge deems fair. In the same manner, misreporting that you are exposed to COVID-19 may also land you in problems especially in instances where the law catches up with you. You may be taken to the hospital by law enforcers but once it has been disapproved that you are not exposed, you may be charged with falsely reporting an incident and may either be arrested or fined. You may need to take your time to know what the law says about coronavirus and other communicable diseases even as you focus on taking care of yourself to avoid contact. We hope that by reading this site you will get more knowledge.
Added info found by clicking here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law