# are there different levels of quarantine

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-different-levels-of-quarantine/849253>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 11, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-different-levels-of-quarantine/849253 "2020-03-11T05:10:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-different-levels-of-quarantine/849253/1 "2020-03-11T05:10:10Z")

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Official designations, or is it mostly ad hoc? I would assume there are official stages of quarantine.

Maybe stage 1 is restricted travel and immigration from overseas, or restrictions on leaving your home city.

Stage 2 may be being told that you can’t leave home unless it is for work, school or shopping.

Then as the top stage of quarantine, people are literally locked in their homes under threat of arrest, people who work in necessary services (electricity, law enforcement, medicine, etc) are given cots so they can sleep at work, and food is delivered to people’s doorsteps.

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-different-levels-of-quarantine/849253/2 "2020-03-11T06:01:12Z")

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The federal government, the state governments and local governments can all do quarantines. They have differing laws and regulations:

> **[Legal Authorities for Isolation and Quarantine 
 | Quarantine | CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/aboutlawsregulationsquarantineisolation.html)**
>
> Isolation and quarantine help protect the public by preventing exposure to people who have or may have a contagious disease. Page content includes the regulatory authority and definitions of isolation and quarantine.

> **[Specific Laws and Regulations Governing the Control of Communicable Diseases 
...](https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/specificlawsregulations.html)**
>
> The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has statutory responsibility for preventing the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases in the United States.

> **[State Quarantine and Isolation Statutes](https://www.ncsl.org/health/state-quarantine-and-isolation-statutes)**
>
> Learn about state law authority for quarantine and isolation within state borders, including authority to initiate quarantine and isolation, and limitations.

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-different-levels-of-quarantine/849253/3 "2020-03-11T06:23:50Z")

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Count on North Korea to do quarantine right!

There was a story going around in the (mostly right-wing) media about a month ago that a North Korean official, returning from China, was ordered into quarantine. When he was caught going to a public bath, he was shot on the spot. In NK, they don’t need no steenkin due process!

(Not at all sure how reliable that story is.)

[North Korean official reportedly executed for breaking coronavirus quarantine](https://nypost.com/2020/02/13/north-korean-official-reportedly-executed-for-breaking-coronavirus-quarantine/), _New York Post_, Feb. 13, 2020.