Amendment to Executive Order 13295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases

This executive order amends a 2003 quarantine order to add novel or reemergent influenza viruses with pandemic potential to the list of quarantinable communicable diseases, expanding federal authority to detain and examine individuals to prevent disease spread during a potential influenza pandemic.

Federal Register Open PDF 70 FR 17299

Key directives

Add novel or reemergent influenza viruses with pandemic potential to list of quarantinable communicable diseases in EO 13295 Section 1

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

Amendment to EO 13295 takes effect upon signing
Novel/reemergent influenza viruses now classified as quarantinable

Near term (90d)

HHS/CDC to operationalize quarantine protocols for influenza pandemic scenarios

Long term

Standing legal authority for federal quarantine response to future influenza pandemics

Risks & tensions

Expands federal detention authority without explicit procedural safeguards specified in this text
Novel/reemergent criteria undefined—scope of 'potential to cause a pandemic' is vague and discretionary
Creates tension with individual liberty interests; Sec. 2 disclaimer bars private enforcement of any rights
Pre-2005 legal framework for quarantine largely untested in modern pandemic context