Ebola Outbreak: Select Legal Issues (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Oct. 6, 2014 |
| Report Number |
LS_2014-10-06_01 |
| Report Type |
Legal Sidebar |
| Authors |
Manuel, Kate |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
On August 8th, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The recent arrival in the United States of several health care workers who contracted the disease, combined with the first diagnosis of a case in the U.S. at a hospital in Dallas, has sparked discussion about the appropriate government response. Aside from the various policy considerations at issue, the outbreak has generated several legal questions about the federal government's authority to restrict specific passengers' travel and/or contain the outbreak of an infectious disease. These questions include, inter alia, whether the federal government may: (1) restrict which countries U.S. nationals may travel to in the event of a public health crisis; (2) bar the entry into the United States of people who may have been infected by a disease; and (3) impose isolation or quarantine measures in order to control infectious diseases.
