Wisconsin counties can enforce quarantine measures

SUPERIOR (WPR) Wisconsin counties have a little-known policy that allows forced isolation or quarantine of people using armed law enforcement and deputized civilians.  This is to help health officials in a worst-case scenario to contain outbreaks.

Wisconsin statute requires each county to have isolation and quarantine procedures.  The order originated with the Centers for Disease Control from anthrax threats in 2001. But the policy is broader.   It includes isolating people infected or even suspected of being infected with a contagious disease such as tuberculosis or in a flu pandemic.   

Douglas County Health Officer Deb Clasen says every county health officer in the state can now order that guards be put on infectious people. She says the policy allows health officials to put law enforcement by the door to help contain and prevent people from exposing others to an illness.

Clasen is quick to say this is only used if voluntary approaches don't work or are ineffective.   Washburn County Sheriff Terry Dryden says this is a tool that may be needed at flu vaccination clinics as well. Dryden says if there’s a situation where people feel they need a child vaccinated before anyone else gets it, there is potential for emotion. He doesn’t expect any problems.

The policy also has provisions for a large quarantine facility with restricted public access.  Jason Shrader is the director of the Western Region Partnership for Public Health Preparedness in Balsam Lake.  He says while public health officials plan for a worst case scenario, “it’s not valuable for a health department to have a policy that looks at end of the world-type scenarios.”

The plans do give people held in forced isolation or quarantine due process to appeal. 

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Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org