WASHINGTON — QUESTION:
Are rules about public gatherings enforceable? Can you be cited or arrested?
If someone is diagnosed with COVID-19 and doesn’t properly quarantine, can they be punished by federal or state law?
ANSWER:
Yes, local bans and quarantine orders can be enforced.
SOURCE:
- Governor Ralph Northam – Executive Order 55 (2020)
- Virginia Code § 18.2-11
- Virginia Code § 32.1-48.014 Enforcement of orders of quarantine or isolation; penalties
- Governor Larry Hogan – Executive Order 20-03-30-01
- Maryland Code § 18-907
- Mayor Muriel Bowser – Mayor's Order 2020-053; stay-at-home order
- D.C. Code § 7–2307
- D.C. Code § 7–140
- CDC – "Legal Authorities for Isolation and Quarantine"/ "Specific Laws and Regulations Governing the Control of Communicable Diseases"/ Order for Quarantine
PROCESS:
Business in the DMV is at a standstill as local leaders temporarily banned non-essential establishments and group gatherings.
The CDC says anyone who tests positive should isolate at home and separate themselves from others in the house.
A viewer emailed the Verify team asking whether these rules are really enforceable.
"Can one actually be cited or arrested for hosting a gathering of more than 10 people in their home or not properly self quarantining if diagnosed with COVID-19?" the viewer wrote.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser have special powers to issue and enforce executive orders.
Our Verify researchers poured over the executive orders and stay-at-home orders.
In D.C., violators could face up to a $5,000 fine and/or 90 days imprisonment.
In Maryland, violators could face up to $5,000 in fines and/or 12 months jail time.
In Virginia, it's up to $2,500 and/or 12 months in jail.
Governor Northam touched about enforcement mechanisms when he announced a stay at home order on March 30.
"This is not a time that we are looking to put people in jail but it's a time when i expect all Virginians to comply," Governor Northam said during a briefing March 30. "If there's more than 10 people that are gathering or congregating then they can be subject to a class 1 misdemeanor."
What if you test positive and don’t properly quarantine?
Both states and the CDC can issue orders telling COVID-19 patients to stay put.
"Any order of quarantine, or isolation shall be enforced by law-enforcement agencies," Virginia Code spells out. It allows police to "detain or arrest any person or persons identified as in violation" of isolation or quarantine.
RELATED: LIST: Here's what's open and closed in Maryland, and the reasons you're allowed to leave your house
Under Maryland law, those who break a state-mandated isolation or quarantine could face up to 12 months in prison, a fine of $3,000, or both. In the District, someone who leaves isolation against a Mayor's order faces up to 90 days imprisonment, a fine up to $5,000, or both.
The CDC says federal quarantines are rarely used, but if you break that order, you can face fines, imprisonment, or both.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Coast Guard officers are both authorized to enforce it.
So we can VERIFY, these bans and quarantine orders can be enforced.