IS THAT LEGAL?
NO. QUARANTINE AUTHORITY LIES WITH THE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENTS
SUPERINTENDENTS WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TO COMPLY UNLESS GOVERNOR DUCEY & DIRECTOR CHRIST MISUSE THEIR EMERGENCY AUTHORITY AGAIN
On July 14, a person named Kaitlin Harrier, the governor’s policy advisor for education, sent a letter to the Peoria Unified School and Catalina Foothills School Districts stating that they cannot require a 10-day quarantine period for unvaccinated students who are close contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case (which is their current policy).
The letter goes on to say that “A district or charter school may not require a student to receive a vaccine for covid-19…” – referring to a new law that passed with the state budget. However, the District’s policies don’t require kids to get vaccinated. They simply define a quarantine period for unvaccinated COVID-19 close contacts.
OK, so what’s going on?
Authority for controlling communicable diseases rests with the county health departments, not the governor’s education policy advisor… and actually not with a school district. Rather, the county health departments have the exclusive authority to implement disease control measures like requiring quarantine of exposed unvaccinated students in school settings. That authority is in ARS 36-624:
36-624. Quarantine and sanitary measures to prevent contagion
When a county health department is apprised that infectious or contagious disease exists within its jurisdiction, it shall immediately make an investigation. If the investigation discloses that the disease does exist, the county health department or public health services district may adopt quarantine and sanitary measures consistent with department rules to prevent the spread of the disease.
So, what is a county health department supposed to do when there’s a COVID-19 outbreak in a school? The county health department’s decisions about isolation and quarantine are supposed to be consistent with the ADHS’ disease specific communicable disease rules – whether the exposure is at a school or elsewhere in the community.
A big problem is that, astonishingly, after more than 16 months, the ADHS (under Director Christ’s leadership) hasn’t updated their communicable disease rules to define school or community control measures for COVID-19! They have measures in Rule for SARS & MERS (which are also coronaviruses) but not for COVID-19. Let’s explore what the SARS/MERS rules say:
R9-6-361(B): A local health agency, in consultation with the Department, shall determine which novel coronavirus contacts will be quarantined or excluded, according to R9-6-303, to prevent transmission.
So, the closest rule we have says that the county health department should work with the school districts to develop quarantine measures for unvaccinated students that are contacts of cases in school settings…. which is clearly in conflict with what Ms. Harrier wrote in her letter to the Peoria Unified School District and Catalina Foothills School Districts yesterday.
The ADHS hasn’t been completely negligent when it comes to providing guidance for COVID-19 exposures in the community. They have produced guidance (not in Rule) that provides some clarity for what county health departments should do when there are exposures among unvaccinated (or previously infected) students on campus. That guidance says the following:
**”A person who had known close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case should quarantine for 14 days from their last exposure to the case. However, individuals may be eligible for shortened quarantine or may not be required to quarantine if certain conditions are met”.
The guidance doesn’t mention what those “certain conditions” are.
Bottom line: Ms. Harrier’s letter to the Peoria Unified School District and Catalina Foothills School Districts is inconsistent with state law, the Arizona Administrative Code for communicable disease control, and even current ADHS guidance for unvaccinated close contacts.
Next, I expect Governor Ducey & Director Christ to issue a new Executive Order explicitly overriding ARS 36-624 and R9-6-361(B) taking COVID-19 quarantine authority away from the county health departments. I also expect Director Christ to sell out again and modify the current ADHS Guidance to state that quarantining close contacts of exposed unvaccinated students in school settings is unnecessary – despite evidence and guidance to the contrary. Totally on-brand for her.
It won’t be the first time that they’ve abused their authority and/or ignored evidence for political reasons.