CDC Issues Proposed Rule to Offer More Transparency on Domestic and Foreign Quarantines

​The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 15, 2016, issued a proposed rule to amend its current domestic and foreign quarantine regulations for the control of communicable diseases. The proposed updates would "provide greater transparency and improve the efficiency of Department of Health and Human Services/CDC operations" by codifying many practices and procedures, CDC said. Among the practices and procedures codified by the rule are those related to domestic travel restrictions and permits for individuals under federal quarantine, isolation, or conditional release orders; and a clarification as to what happens when an individual moving between states is "reasonably believed to be infected." The rule would also allow CDC to use technology such as e-mail and internet to monitor individuals believed to be exposed to or infected with a quarantinable disease, while also providing certain due processes and protections for people who have been served with a quarantine order.