Updated 07/2011
Washington State Preparation for a Pandemic
Contents
Preparedness Planning in the United States
Washington State Government Planning for a Pandemic
Washington State Laws Delineating Health Authority
- Memorandum Re: Public Health Emergencies - Current Legal Authority (
), to Mary Selecky, Secretary and Nancy Ellison, Deputy Secretary, Department of Health, from Joyce A. Roper, Sr. Assistant Attorney General, Agriculture and Health Division, 4010, 01/31/2002
- Washington Attorney General Informal Opinion (), re: city responsibility for paying employees, if health official orders them away from the workplace, to Senator Bob McCaslin, from Jean M. Wilkinson, Senior Counsel, 08/02/2006
- Local Government Public Health Service Administration, MRSC
Statutes
- Ch. 43.20 RCW - Establishes the State Board of Health; see, in particular:
- RCW 43.20.050(2)(d), (e) - Authorizes the state Board of Health to adopt rules for the imposition and use of isolation and quarantine isolation and quarantine and for the prevention and control of infectious diseases
- Ch. 43.70 RCW - Establishes the state Department of Health; see, in particular:
- RCW 43.70.200 - Secretary of Department of Health is authorized to take legal action to enforce the public health laws and rules and regulations of the state Board of Health or local rules and regulations within the jurisdiction served by the local health department.
- Ch. 70.05 RCW - Local health departments, boards, and officers; see, in particular:
- RCW 70.05.060(4) - Requires local health departments and boards to provide for the control and prevention of any dangerous, contagious or infectious disease within their jurisdiction
- RCW 70.05.070(3) - Authorizes the local health officer to control and prevent the spread of any dangerous, contagious, or infectious diseases that may occur within his or her jurisdiction
- RCW 70.05.090 - Requires physicians to report to the local health officer any dangerous contagious or infectious disease, or with any diseases required by the state Board of Health to be reported
- RCW 70.05.110 - Requires local health officials to report contagious or infectious diseases to the state Board of Health
- Ch. 70.26 RCW - Pandemic Influenza Preparedness
- Ch. 70.46 RCW - Formation of health districts
- RCW 38.52.070 - Authorizes and directs each political subdivision to establish a local organization for emergency management and to establish local comprehensive emergency management plans, and identifies the powers of political subdivisions in the event of an emergency or disaster
Regulations
- Ch. 246-100 WAC - Board of Health regulations on communicable and certain other diseases; see, in particular:
- WAC 246-100-036 - Provides that local health officers must when necessary, conduct investigations, and institute disease control and contamination control measures
- WAC 246-100-040 - Procedures for isolation or quarantine (See also Isolation and Quarantine Forms and Resources, Washington State Department of Health)
- WAC 246-100-045 - Conditions and principles for isolation or quarantine
- WAC 246-100-070 - Provides that an order issued by a local health officer constitutes the duly-authorized application of lawful rules adopted by the Board of Health and must be enforced by all police officers, sheriffs, and all other officers and employees of any political subdivisions within the jurisdiction of the health department