Page 24 - Briefcase Volume 38 Number 1

UHLC COVID-19 RESPONSE

UHLC’S HEALTH LAW & POLICY INSTITUTE HELD CORONAVIRUS WEBINAR
AMID GROWING GLOBAL CONCERN

As COVID-19 continued to spread abroad, experts in law, Chandler pointed to how the spread of the virus could
infectious diseases, medicine and public health discussed spark immigration concerns, and referenced two statutes
potential outcomes and methods to confront the pandemic that would protect the U.S. - 8 USC 1182 (a)(1)(A)(ii) and
in a webinar in February hosted by the University of 8 USC 1222.
Houston Law Center’s Health Law & Policy Institute. “There are federal laws that do protect the United States
The webinar was intended for the general public and against aliens with communicable diseases,” Chandler said.
media, but was of particular interest to those in law “It renders those people inadmissible.”
enforcement, the judiciary, public health, business
and education. Speakers discussed laws pertaining to “Then what about people where we don’t know they have
isolation and quarantine while local health analyzed a communicable disease but they come from a country
the epidemiology of the outbreak and efforts to prevent or embarked in a place where any of certain diseases are
and respond to a potential emergency. There was also prevalent or epidemic? Under this statute 8 USC 1222,
discussions of legal and practical issues for employers these people can be detained until the uncertainty is
and educational institutions. resolved as to whether they have the disease. That detention
There were 140 attendees, with viewers in Canada, Peru, seems to be about 14 days for COVID-19. Even if you
aren’t symptomatic, there is some possibility that you
Puerto Rico and the U.K. could be detained.”
Law Foundation Professor of Law Seth J. Chandler, an
economics and health law scholar, moderated the webinar. Chandler also discussed federal laws related to quarantines.
He discussed how the greater Houston area and Texas could “Being a U.S. citizen does not immunize you from the
form an epicenter should COVID-19 become a pandemic in potential for being quarantined,” he said. “Section 70.6 of
the U.S. the Code of Federal Regulations are going to set for the
“We’re in the gray zone between unwarranted optimism and circumstances in which U.S. citizens can be quarantined.”
induced panic, and both are mistakes,” Chandler said. “Too Dr. Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Vice-Chair in Healthcare
little preparation and we could find ourselves overwhelmed. Quality and a professor in infectious diseases at the
People do not always make good decisions under pressure UTHealth McGovern Medical School, served as the
when confronting new woes. Too much worry is also second speaker, and addressed epidemiology issues
dangerous. Fear has costs. It can hurt the economy and can surrounding coronavirus.
lead us to disregard other woes.”

24 UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER