The Washington State Board of Health (WSBH) has proposed forcibly isolating and quarantining COVID-positive individuals and groups of people or those merely “suspected” of being infected.
The proposed revision (WAC 246-100-040) to the state’s Communicable and Certain Other Diseases Act suggests including new COVID protocol under the said act, Gateway Pundit reports. The amendment involves “procedures for isolation or quarantine,” and would allow health officers to “issue an emergency detention order causing a person or group of persons to be immediately detained for purposes of isolation or quarantine.”
The revision specifies that an emergency detention order could be issued by a local health officer based solely on his or her discretion.
A health officer can ask the person or a group to isolate if there is a
reason to believe that the person or group of persons is, or is suspected to be, infected with, exposed to, or contaminated with a communicable disease or chemical, biological, or radiological agent that could spread to or contaminate others if remedial action is not taken; and has reason to believe that the person or group of persons would pose a serious and imminent risk to the health and safety of others if not detained….
When that “assessment” is done, the people deemed to be a “public health threat” could then be asked to comply voluntarily with requests for “medical examination, testing, treatment, counseling, vaccination, decontamination of persons or animals, isolation, quarantine, and inspection and closure of facilities.” But if people do not voluntarily comply, they can be compelled, since the revision will also give local Faucis the power to call on police in case someone refuses to comply with the order. Per the text,
A local health officer may invoke the powers of police officers, sheriffs, constables, and all other officers and employees of any political subdivisions within the jurisdiction of the health department to enforce immediately orders [on isolation and quarantine]….
Meaning, if the revision is approved, anyone can be legally forced to get tested, treated, and even vaccinated if the local health authorities decided it would contribute to the “safety of others.”
While that kind of practice seems unthinkable in the “civilized” world, a forceful isolation of the “infected” has already been employed in such “democratic” countries as Australia and Germany.
As The New American reported, the Land Down Under is using the army to “relocate COVID cases” and their “contacts” to “mandatory supervised quarantine facilities.”
A local media reported that in Germany, at least 15 people in the 10 largest German cities have been forcibly placed in quarantine stations in clinics or prisons during the year of 2021 for “disregarding domestic isolation requirements.”
Back to Washington, the “emergency detention order” legalizes the isolation and detainment of those who are deemed a “public health threat” for a period “not to exceed ten days.”
However, a local health officer would be given a right to petition the superior court for an order authorizing the continued detention for a period up to 30 days.
According to the excerpt of the WSBH’s email posted by The Post Millennial,
“The Board is continuing a November rules hearing on the proposed rule changes to chapter 246-100 WAC, Communicable and Certain Other Diseases, as published in WSR 21-20-127.””RCW 70.24.025 states that an individual who fails to comply with a health order issued under RCW 70.24.024 is guilty of a misdemeanor.” “The Board is proposing updating its rules to reflect current state law.”
The outlet specifies that
Under the RCWs cited “A person who violates or fails to comply with a health order issued under RCW 70.24.024 is guilty of a gross misdemeanor punishable by confinement until the order has been complied with or terminated, up to a maximum period of three hundred sixty-four days.”
The rule changes will be considered on January 12 during a Zoom meeting that can be accessible to the public here.
The Post Millennial also points out that the WSBH was recruiting candidates for a new unit called the “Isolation and Quarantine Strike Team,” which would pay a salary of between $3,294-4,286 per month. The listing says that the “Isolation and Quarantine facility” was established for the non-Washington residents “but are traveling in our state and test positive for COVID-19 or who have been exposed to someone who tests positive and do not have a residence or other location in which to spend their 10–14-day isolation or quarantine period.” The facility is said to be located within a motel in Lewis County.
The board, however, has denied that the discussion on WAC 246-100-040 during the upcoming meeting is for COVID, claiming that “while related to rulemaking on chapter 246-100 WAC, is scoped only to the implementation of ESHB 1551 [addresses changes to existing legislation regarding HIV/AIDS and other STDs] … and does not include changes to isolation and quarantine policies nor does it suggest law enforcement be used to enforce any vaccination requirements.”
A similar “initiative” has recently been discussed in New York. Luckily for the Empire State residents, Senate Bill A416 was pulled in late December. This bill would have granted the governor the power to forcibly detain and medicate people infected with contagious diseases, those who have been in contact with those infected, or anyone suspected of presenting a “significant threat to public health.”
