14.1.5.160 Conditions and Principles for Isolation or Quarantine

The Public Health Officer shall adhere to the following conditions and principles when isolating or quarantining a person or group of persons under this Act:

(a) Isolation or quarantine must be by the least restrictive means necessary to prevent the

spread of a communicable or possibly communicable disease or condition to others and may include, but are not limited to, confinement to private homes or other public or private premises and the use of electronic tracking devices and/ or techniques;

(b) Isolated individuals must be confined separately from quarantined individuals;

(c) The health status of isolated or quarantined individuals must be monitored regularly, to determine if they require continued isolation or quarantine;

(d) If a quarantined individual subsequently becomes infected or is reasonably believed to have become infected with a communicable or possibly communicable disease or condition that the Public Health Officer believes poses a significant threat to the health and safety of other quarantined individuals, the individual shall be subject to isolation;

(e) Isolated or quarantined individuals must be released as soon as practicable when the Public Health Officer determines that they have been successfully decontaminated or that they pose no substantial risk of transmitting a communicable or possibly communicable disease or condition that would constitute a serious or imminent threat to the health and safety of others;

(f) The Public Health Officer should seek to facilitate fulfillment of the needs of a person isolated or quarantined to the greatest extent possible, including, but not limited to, providing adequate food, water, heat, clothing, shelter, means of communication with those in isolation or quarantine and outside these settings, medication, and competent medical care;

(g) The Public Health Officer should seek to ensure that premises used for isolation or quarantine are maintained in a safe and hygienic manner to minimize the likelihood of further transmission of infection or other harm to persons isolated, quarantined, and/or managed in accordance with control measures;

(h) To the extent possible, and in a manner that does not pose a health risk to others, cultural and religious beliefs should be considered in addressing the needs of individuals, and establishing and maintaining isolation or quarantine premises;

(i) Isolation or quarantine shall not abridge the right of any person to rely exclusively on spiritual or traditional means alone through prayer or traditional healing activity to treat a communicable or possibly communicable disease or condition in accordance with religious or traditional tenets and practices, nor shall anything in this Act be deemed to prohibit a person so relying who is infected with a contagious or communicable disease or condition from being isolated or quarantined in a private place of their own choice, provided, it is approved by the Public Health Officer and in compliance with all laws, rules and regulations governing control, sanitation, isolation and quarantine. At their sole discretion, the Public Health Officer may isolate infected individuals declining treatment for the duration of their communicable infection, if necessary to protect the health and safety of the individual person or others.