Police Address Misinformation Over Quarantine Enforcement

OLYMPIA, WA — Despite what you may have read on the internet, there are no plans for law enforcement officers to detain or quarantine the unvaccinated in Washington state.

On Monday, the Gig Harbor Police Department issued a public statement saying it had received several calls from residents who were concerned that police would be arresting them or their families to enforce COVID-19 quarantines.

"We are getting inquiries wondering if we are going to round up unvaccinated people and forcibly detain them in quarantine," the department wrote. "Spoiler Alert: We aren't."

For those not in the know, the post comes out of left field. However, for police and the Washington State Board of Health, it's just another part of an online saga that has been brewing for weeks now. According to the Board of Health, social media posts and articles have been falsely claiming that it would implement a new rule allowing officers to arrest the unvaccinated for quarantine at its Jan. 12 State Board of Health Public Meeting.

According to the Board, that is not going to happen, and it did not even discus isolation or quarantine policies at that meeting. The legislation board members voted on "does not include changes to isolation and quarantine policies nor does it suggest law enforcement be used to enforce any vaccination requirements," the board said.

Concerns about forced quarantines to have spread fairly widely, even embroiling one high-profile politician. Jesse Jensen, a Republican running to unseat Kim Schrier to represent District 8 in Congress, on Monday issued a statement accusing "far-left officials" of planning to "give unelected bureaucrats the authority to detain the state's own citizens for failing to comply with unconstitutional vaccine mandates."

The source of the misinformation is unclear, but may be based on a misreading of Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 246-100-040, a longstanding protocol that allows local health officers to issue emergency detention orders for isolation or quarantine. However, the code requires that the patient be a "serious and imminent risk to the health and safety of others" and that the health officer make a reasonable, documented effort to provide alternatives first. The WAC also does not currently include COVID-19 as a suitable reason for a detention order.

The Board of Health's statement Monday also took time to address a second rumor: that the state may begin requiring students to take the COVID-19 vaccine. That rumor does have a basis more grounded in reality, but any new vaccine requirements would still be a fair ways off. As the board explains, a technical advisory group is currently evaluating vaccine requirements and will eventually provide the board with a recommendation, which it may or may not adopt. If the Board of Health does adopt the proposal down the line, students would still be allowed to get COVID-19 vaccine exemptions for medical, religious, philosophical or personal reasons.

"The exemption allowances currently listed in the state’s immunizations law would be available for families and their children who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19," the board said. "These exemptions include medical, religious, philosophical or personal exemptions."

>> Read the full statement from the Washington State Board of Health.

This article originally appeared on the Gig Harbor Patch