Isolation, Quarantine, and Social Distancing: What’s the Difference?

As the COVID-19 epidemic continues to unfold in the U.S. and around the world, the media and scholars are increasingly talking about isolation, quarantine, and social distancing. Sometimes the words are used as if they are interchangeable, but they’re not: they have differences in meaning that are quite significant. What are those differences, and what do they mean for public health officials and the public?

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Resources for Reliable Information on Coronavirus in North Carolina

The first case of COVID-19 in North Carolina was announced on March 3, in a press conference that can be viewed here. A press release from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is available here.

Based on the patient’s recent travel history, public health officials believe that the case was acquired outside of North Carolina. At the time of this writing, there are no other known cases in the state, but it is certainly possible that additional cases could be discovered. Public heath officials have been preparing for the possibility of cases in our state since the outbreak was first reported in late 2019, and have developed essential information and resources for North Carolina local governments and the public. Read more »

How Will We Know if COVID-19 is in North Carolina? A Look at the State’s Communicable Disease Reporting Laws

UPDATE: On March 23, North Carolina’s State Health Director issued a new temporary order requiring physicians to report suspected or confirmed deaths from novel coronavirus infections within 24 hours. Infections that do not cause death are still reportable under the rulemaking actions described in this post–the new order did not alter that requirement, but added a new reporting obligation to assure that deaths from novel coronaviruses are captured in public health data, even if the infections were undetected prior to death. New rulemaking is underway to make permanent the requirement to report deaths from novel coronavirus infections.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that was first detected in China in late 2019. The disease has since spread to several other countries, including the United States.

From the outset, North Carolina public health officials have been monitoring the virus and preparing for the possibility of cases in our state. Local health departments are the lead local agencies for responding to COVID-19 in North Carolina. The local departments work closely with the state’s Communicable Disease Branch, within the N.C. Division of Public Health. These agencies will be the key first responders when a case of the disease is detected within the state—but how will they know? Read more »

Preparing Local Government Workplaces for the New Coronavirus

Yesterday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that it was a matter of when, not if, the new coronavirus would begin to affect communities here in the United States. “It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing. Consistent with that warning, the CDC has issued an interim guidance for employers on how to plan for and respond to the new virus. Here are the highlights of the CDC guidance. Read more »

The Difference Between a Serious Health Condition under the FMLA and a Disability under the ADA

It’s bad enough that employment laws have such confusing acronyms – FLSA, FMLA, ADEA, ADA – but why do they have to use different terms for the same thing? Don’t “serious health condition” and “disability” refer to the same thing? As it turns out, they do not. While both a serious health condition and a disability have the potential to interfere with an employee’s attendance and job performance, they are different concepts and the existence of each has very different consequences for both employers and employees. Read more »

Legal Ethics Lessons from ECU

Anyone who has seen the Reese Witherspoon/Matthew Broderick classic high school satire Election knows that it is never a good idea for administrators to mess with student politics.  The recent mini-scandal out of Greenville suggests that at least a few members of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees missed that movie.  While this most recent kerfluffle is bad news for ECU, it is a fine learning opportunity for any attorney that represents any type of organization.

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City Obligations for Providing Services to Annexed Areas

What services must be provided to annexed areas?

State law allows cities to annex property by petition (voluntary) and city-initiated (involuntary), which now requires approval by a majority of voters in the area to be annexed. Once property is annexed, state law provides that “the territory and its citizens and property shall be subject to all debts, laws, ordinance and regulations in force in [the] municipality and shall be entitled to the same privileges and benefits as other parts of such municipality.” G.S. 160A-31(e) (voluntary contiguous), G.S.160A-58.3 (voluntary satellite), G.S. 160A-58.55(j) (city-initiated). While cities in North Carolina have authority to provide many services and functions, the only mandatory function is building code inspection. In two cases, a city that provides water and sewer is required to extend those services to property owners who request it at no cost to the property owners. This is required for city-initiated annexations, and for petitions for annexation for voluntary annexation under the G.S. 160A- 31(b1) (requiring 51% households in a distressed area.) Beyond these limited circumstances, the annexation statutes do not require cities provide any particular mix of services to annexed areas. The obligation is simply to extend services that are already provided in the existing corporate limits. Read more »