CDC proposed rule amends regulations for quarantinable, communicable diseases

Editor's Note

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 15 published a proposed rule on Control of Communicable Diseases.

The proposal amends the CDC’s domestic and foreign quarantine regulations to help respond to outbreaks of new or reemerging communicable diseases, such as Ebola, Middle Ease Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and measles.

Among the proposals, the rule would:

• initiate activities for traveler health screening at US ports and other locations, such as railway terminals and bus stations
• implement domestic travel restrictions and permits for those under federal quarantine, isolation, or conditional release orders
• provide individuals served with a public health isolation or quarantine order with due process protections
• clarify when an individual moving between states is “reasonably believed to be infected,” which determines whether that person may be apprehended
• use electronic means to monitor those believed to be exposed or infected with a quarantinable, communicable disease.

Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted for 60 days.