Good preparation key in event of epidemic

Recent news stories on Ebola have generated considerable unease in the United States, including well-publicized events in Texas and New York.

Current fear of Ebola in the United States is disproportionate to the risk posed by the virus. In a nation of nearly 320 million persons, there have been fewer than 10 known people with Ebola, only two of whom actually acquired the virus in the United States, and all but one have recovered so far. By comparison, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records indicate that nearly 100 people die nationwide every day in traffic accidents.

Low risk notwithstanding, these news stories inspired me to examine some of the laws and regulations dealing with epidemic and communicable diseases, and to provide resources for businesses in the event of an instance of Ebola or another serious illness.

In Colorado, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has the authority to deal with epidemics and communicable diseases. By statute, the department has the power to “investigate and control the causes of epidemic and communicable diseases affecting the public health,” to “investigate and monitor the spread of disease that is considered part of an emergency epidemic,” and to “establish, maintain, and enforce isolation and quarantine, and … to exercise such physical control over property and the persons of the people within this state as the department may find necessary for the protection of the public health.”

Colorado law also provides for the creation of a “governor’s expert emergency epidemic response committee,” to “provide expert public health advice to the governor in the event of an emergency epidemic.” An “emergency epidemic” is defined by statute to mean “cases of an illness or condition, communicable or noncommunicable, caused by bioterrorism, pandemic influenza, or novel and highly fatal infectious agents or biological toxins.”

In the event of a declared emergency epidemic, the response committee will convene to advise the governor about executive orders the governor may make in response. By statute, such executive orders may include ordering hospitals to transfer or cease admission of patients, isolating or quarantining persons or property, determining whether to seize, destroy or decontaminate property or objects that may threaten public health, determining how to safely dispose of corpses and infectious waste, and informing the public about protective measures.

While the risk of an Ebola or similar outbreak on the Front Range likely is small, individuals and businesses should be familiar with what to expect in such an incident. Just as the doctor in New York was returning from work in Guinea for Doctors Without Borders, there are health-care workers from Colorado performing similar work who will return to this region. According to the Associated Press, more than 440 health-care workers in West Africa have contracted the Ebola virus this year.

While health-care facilities are most at risk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists businesses with “medium exposure risk” as being schools, restaurants, retail establishments, travel and mass-transit companies, and any other places with crowded environments.

The websites for both the CDC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration provide numerous regulations and guidelines to review, consider and follow related to worker safety against infectious diseases including Ebola. While we all hope no such preparations are needed, a little preparation now may go a long way in the event of an unexpected future regional emergency.

Daniel W. Jones, an attorney for Coan, Payton & Payne LLC at the Greeley office, can be reached at djones@cp2law.com or 970-339-3500.

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