New York Legislative Assembly Bill 416: Sweeping Public Health Measures

Although not yet law and without even a co-sponsor of Bill 416, the bill grants sweeping powers such as:

• Removal and detention of cases contacts and carriers who may be a danger to public health in the event that the governor declares a state of health emergency due to an epidemic of any communicable disease
• Persons or groups of persons can be detained in a medical facility or other “appropriate” facility for as long as the department of health may direct as long as the person is contagious
• If the person or group is ordered to be detained for less than 3 business days that person or group I entitled to a hearing
• Should a detention order be greater than 3 business days the group or person subject to the detention order requests a release the governor must obtain an order the governor must obtain a court order authorizing the detention. The governor can keep extending the detention order upon further court orders provided hearings are granted to the person or group
• The governor may make orders requiring enforcement of any order which is “necessary or appropriate” to prevent spread of a communicable disease including forced quarantine, testing, examination, treatment, vaccination, medical treatment
• Forced medication shall require a court order

So the question is whether this amounts to good public health control or a violation of civil rights an argument I will not delve into but I recall in Canada there is no power, at this point, to compel vaccination or a specific medical treatment or to compel confinement to a medical facility.

You may recall that recently the New York State Bar recommended compulsory COVID vaccinations.