Virginia Code 32.1-48.08: Declaration of quarantine.
A. The State Health Commissioner may declare a quarantine of any person or persons or any affected area after he finds that the quarantine is the necessary means to contain a communicable disease of public health threat as defined in § 32.1-48.06 to which such person or persons or the people of an affected area have been or may have been exposed and thus may become infected.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 32.1-48.08
- Affected area: means any part or the whole of the Commonwealth, which has been identified as where persons reside, or may be located, who are known to have been exposed to or infected with or who are reasonably suspected to have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease of public health threat. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
- Communicable disease of public health threat: means an illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health Commissioner in accordance with regulations of the Board of Health, caused by a specific or suspected infectious agent that may be reasonably expected or is known to be readily transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to another and has been found to create a risk of death or significant injury or impairment; this definition shall not, however, be construed to include human immunodeficiency viruses or tuberculosis, unless used as a bioterrorism weapon. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
- Quarantine: means the physical separation, including confinement or restriction of movement, of an individual or individuals who are present within an affected area, as defined herein, or who are known to have been exposed or may reasonably be suspected to have been exposed to a communicable disease of public health threat and who do not yet show signs or symptoms of infection with the communicable disease of public health threat in order to prevent or limit the transmission of the communicable disease of public health threat to other unexposed and uninfected individuals. See Virginia Code 32.1-48.06
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. The State Health Commissioner shall record his findings and any information on which he has relied in making the finding required for quarantine pursuant to subsection A. The State Health Commissioner’s record of findings concerning any communicable disease of public health threat shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed in accordance with subdivision 12 of § 2.2-3705.5.
C. The State Health Commissioner may order the quarantined person or persons to remain in their residences, to remain in another place where they are present, or to report to a place or places designated by the State Health Commissioner for the duration of their quarantine. An electronic device may be used to enforce any such quarantine. The Commissioner’s order of quarantine shall be for a duration consistent with the known incubation period for such disease or, if the incubation period is unknown, for a period anticipated as being consistent with the incubation period for other similar infectious agents.