Maddy Buck is a comics artist based in Minneapolis who specializes in illustrated explanations of tech, law, and all things complex.
This explainer comic breaks down the federal quarantine powers law and was originally shared on the Graphic Medicine’s Covid-19 Comics Collection.
Sources for this comic include:
U.S. Constitution: Commerce Clause, Article 1, Section 9 of U.S. Constitution
Federal Law: Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, aka 42 USC 264.
Federal Regulations:
42 CFR 70.1-70.18 (Interstate Quarantine)
42 CFR 71.1-71.63 (Foreign Quarantine)
Secondary sources:
“Legal Authorities for Isolation and Quarantine” on CDC website.
And, if you’re curious about some fascinating history of yellow fever shotgun quarantines in the late 1800s American South, check out “Epidemics, Outsiders, and Local Protection: Federalism Theater in the era of the Shotgun Quarantine” by Polly J. Price. If you’re not into legal analysis, just read the beginning.