NewsTribune

Washington state isn’t changing its quarantine rules

CLAIM: The Washington State Board of Health at a Jan. 12 public meeting was scheduled to consider a proposed rule change to allow the involuntary detainment of unvaccinated residents in COVID-19 quarantine camps.

THE FACTS: The board was scheduled to discuss changes to the Washington Administrative Code’s section on communicable and certain other diseases in accordance with a new law about how the state handles HIV, not COVID-19. The state’s quarantine and isolation procedures, which have been in place since 2003 and are similar to rules in several other states, aren’t undergoing any changes.

Still, fear-inducing articles, videos and social media posts falsely claimed Washington state health officials were preparing to chase down unvaccinated people and force them into COVID19 quarantine camps. The posts completely misrepresent the state Board of Health’s scheduled Wednesday discussion on changing the Washington Administrative Code to align with a new law about HIV, said Keith Grellner, who chairs the board. Whenever lawmakers in Washington state pass new bills into law, state agencies codify those laws by creating rules and regulations in the Washington Administrative Code. The code has had a section on communicable and certain other diseases since at least 1988, Grellner said. In June 2020, state lawmakers passed a bill “ending statutory HIV/AIDS exceptionalism, reducing HIV-related stigma, defelonizing HIV exposure, and removing barriers to HIV testing,” according to the state Board of Health website. As a result, the board must adjust the code to ensure its rules comply with the new law. The section the board has proposed adjusting, WAC 246-100, governs the state’s handling of communicable and certain other infectious diseases. COVID-19, as a communicable disease, falls under that category, but the changes that are currently being proposed do not alter the state’s handling of the disease, Grellner said. WAC 246-100-040 is a subsection of the code that deals specifically with quarantine and isolation procedures. Social media users claimed the state Board of Health was proposing a change to that section, but both the board and the code reviser’s office confirmed to the AP this section has no proposed changes and has not been altered since it was first introduced in 2003. Grellner said he believes the state has only used its quarantine and isolation procedures with regard to tuberculosis, and rarely at that. He added the procedures don’t give health officials “unilateral” authority to take someone against their will — individuals affected would have the right to petition a superior court for release.

Some social media users falsely claimed the state Board of Health’s meeting Wednesday would also include a vote to require the COVID-19 vaccine for school-aged children. That’s not true, according to the state Board of Health. The board clarified on its website it would receive a briefing from an advisory group on the topic at the meeting, but it wouldn’t take any action on the matter on Wednesday. Some of the online posts sharing false information about the board’s meeting also revived the months-old misleading claim that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s office is hiring a “strike team” to run camps where unvaccinated residents could be forced to quarantine. That claim stems from a real job posting, but not for positions forcing residents to quarantine. Instead, the job postings dealt with a facility where visitors to the state could safely quarantine if they did not have another safe place to go. A press secretary for Inslee confirmed in an email to the AP the governor has never considered hunting down unvaccinated people to force them to quarantine.

— Ali Swenson

NEWS

en-us

2022-01-16T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-16T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.newstribune.com/article/282089165136445

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