§ 70.1 General definitions.

As used in this part, terms shall have the following meaning:

Airline means any air carrier or foreign air carrier providing air transportation as that term is defined in 49 U.S.C. 40102(a)(2), (a)(5), and (a)(21).

Apprehension means the temporary taking into custody of an individual or group for purposes of determining whether Federal quarantine, isolation, or conditional release is warranted.

CDC means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services.

Communicable diseases means illnesses due to infectious agents or their toxic products, which may be transmitted from a reservoir to a susceptible host either directly as from an infected person or animal or indirectly through the agency of an intermediate plant or animal host, vector, or the inanimate environment.

Communicable period means the period or periods during which the etiologic agent may be transferred directly or indirectly from the body of the infected person or animal to the body of another.

Communicable stage means the stage during which an infectious agent may be transmitted either directly or indirectly from an infected individual to another individual.

Conditional release means the temporary supervision by a public health official (or designee) of an individual or group, who may have been exposed to a quarantinable communicable disease to determine the risk of disease spread and includes public health supervision through in-person visits, telephone, or through electronic or Internet-based monitoring.

Contaminated environment means the presence of an infectious agent on a surface, including on inanimate articles, or in a substance, including food, water, or in the air.

Conveyance means an aircraft, train, road vehicle, vessel (as defined in this section) or other means of transport, including military.

Director means the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, or another authorized representative as approved by the CDC Director or the Secretary of HHS.

Electronic or Internet-based monitoring means mechanisms or technologies allowing for the temporary public health supervision of an individual under conditional release and may include communication through electronic mail, SMS texts, video or audio conference, webcam technologies, integrated voice-response systems, entry of information into a Web-based forum, wearable tracking technologies, and other mechanisms or technologies as determined by the Director or supervising health authority.

Ill person means an individual who:

(1) Has a fever (a measured temperature of 100.4 °F [38 °C] or greater, or feels warm to the touch, or gives a history of feeling feverish) accompanied by one or more of the following: Skin rash, difficulty breathing, persistent cough, decreased consciousness or confusion of recent onset, new unexplained bruising or bleeding (without previous injury), persistent diarrhea, persistent vomiting (other than air sickness), headache with stiff neck, appears obviously unwell; or

(2) Has a fever that has persisted for more than 48 hours; or

(3) Has symptoms or other indications of communicable disease, as the CDC may announce through posting of a notice in the Federal Register.

Incubation period means the time from the moment of exposure to an infectious agent that causes a communicable disease until signs and symptoms of the communicable disease appear in the individual or, if signs and symptoms do not appear, the latest date signs and symptoms could reasonably be expected to appear. For a quarantinable communicable disease, incubation period means the precommunicable stage.

Indigent means an individual whose annual family income is below 200% of the applicable poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2) or, if no income is earned, liquid assets totaling less than 15% of the applicable poverty guidelines.

Interstate traffic

(1) Means:

(i) The movement of any conveyance or the transportation of persons or property, including any portion of such movement or transportation that is entirely within a State or possession—

(ii) From a point of origin in any State or possession to a point of destination in any other State or possession; or

(iii) Between a point of origin and a point of destination in the same State or possession but through any other State, possession, or contiguous foreign country.

(2) Interstate traffic does not include the following:

(i) The movement of any conveyance which is solely for the purpose of unloading persons or property transported from a foreign country, or loading persons or property for transportation to a foreign country.

(ii) The movement of any conveyance which is solely for the purpose of effecting its repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or storage.

Isolation means the separation of an individual or group reasonably believed to be infected with a quarantinable communicable disease from those who are healthy to prevent the spread of the quarantinable communicable disease.

Master or operator with respect to a vessel, means the sea crew member with responsibility for vessel operation and navigation, or a similar individual with responsibility for a conveyance. Consistent with the definition of “operate” in 14 CFR 1.1, “operator” means, with respect to aircraft, any person who uses, causes to use, or authorizes to use an aircraft, for the purpose (except as provided in 14 CFR 91.13) of air navigation including the piloting of an aircraft, with or without the right of legal control (as owner, lessee, or otherwise).

Medical examination means the assessment of an individual by an authorized and licensed health worker to determine the individual's health status and potential public health risk to others and may include the taking of a medical history, a physical examination, and collection of human biological samples for laboratory testing as may be needed to diagnose or confirm the presence or extent of infection with a quarantinable communicable disease.

Medical reviewer means a physician, nurse practitioner, or similar medical professional qualified in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases who is appointed by the Secretary or Director to conduct medical reviews under this part and may include an HHS or CDC employee, provided that the employee differs from the CDC official who issued the Federal order for quarantine, isolation, or conditional release.

Non-invasive means procedures conducted by an authorized public health worker (i.e., an individual with education and training in the field of public health) or another individual with suitable public health training and includes the visual examination of the ear, nose, and mouth; temperature assessments using an ear, oral, cutaneous, or noncontact thermometer, or thermal imaging; and other procedures not involving the puncture or incision of the skin or insertion of an instrument or foreign material into the body or a body cavity excluding the ear, nose, and mouth.

Possession means U.S. Territory.

Precommunicable stage means the stage beginning upon an individual's earliest opportunity for exposure to an infectious agent and ending upon the individual entering or reentering the communicable stage of the disease or, if the individual does not enter the communicable stage, the latest date at which the individual could reasonably be expected to have the potential to enter or reenter the communicable stage.

Public health emergency as used in this part means:

(1) Any communicable disease event as determined by the Director with either documented or significant potential for regional, national, or international communicable disease spread or that is highly likely to cause death or serious illness if not properly controlled; or

(2) Any communicable disease event described in a declaration by the Secretary pursuant to 319(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d (a)); or

(3) Any communicable disease event the occurrence of which is notified to the World Health Organization, in accordance with Articles 6 and 7 of the International Health Regulations, as one that may constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern; or

(4) Any communicable disease event the occurrence of which is determined by the Director-General of the World Health Organization, in accordance with Article 12 of the International Health Regulations, to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern; or

(5) Any communicable disease event for which the Director-General of the World Health Organization, in accordance with Articles 15 or 16 of the International Health Regulations, has issued temporary or standing recommendations for purposes of preventing or promptly detecting the occurrence or reoccurrence of the communicable disease.

Public health prevention measures means the assessment of an individual through non-invasive procedures and other means, such as observation, questioning, review of travel documents, records review, and other non-invasive means, to determine the individual's health status and potential public health risk to others.

Qualifying stage is statutorily defined (42 U.S.C. 264(d)(2)) to mean:

(1) The communicable stage of a quarantinable communicable disease; or

(2) The precommunicable stage of the quarantinable communicable disease, but only if the quarantinable communicable disease would be likely to cause a public health emergency if transmitted to other individuals.

Quarantine means the separation of an individual or group reasonably believed to have been exposed to a quarantinable communicable disease, but who are not yet ill, from others who have not been so exposed, to prevent the possible spread of the quarantinable communicable disease.

Quarantinable communicable disease means any of the communicable diseases listed in an Executive Order, as provided under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act. Executive Order 13295, of April 4, 2003, as amended by Executive Order 13375 of April 1, 2005, contains the current revised list of quarantinable communicable diseases, and may be obtained at http://www.cdc.gov and http://www.archives.gov/federal_register. If this Order is amended, HHS will enforce that amended order immediately and update that Web site.

Reasonably believed to be infected, as applied to an individual, means specific articulable facts upon which a public health officer could reasonably draw the inference that an individual has been exposed, either directly or indirectly, to the infectious agent that causes a quarantinable communicable disease, as through contact with an infected person or an infected person's bodily fluids, a contaminated environment, or through an intermediate host or vector, and that as a consequence of the exposure, the individual is or may be harboring in the body the infectious agent of that quarantinable communicable disease.

Representatives means a physician, nurse practitioner, or similar medical professional qualified in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, and an attorney who is knowledgeable of public health practices, who are appointed by the Secretary or Director and may include HHS or CDC employees, to assist an indigent individual under Federal quarantine, isolation, or conditional release with a medical review under this part.

Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) or any other officer or employee of that Department to whom the authority involved has been delegated.

State means any of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.

U.S. Territory means any territory (also known as possessions) of the United States, including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Vessel means any passenger-carrying, cargo, or towing vessel exclusive of:

Fishing boats including those used for shell-fishing;

Tugs which operate only locally in specific harbors and adjacent waters;

Barges without means of self-propulsion;

Construction-equipment boats and dredges; and

Sand and gravel dredging and handling boats.

[65 FR 49908, Aug. 16, 2000, as amended at 77 FR 75884, Dec. 26, 2012; 82 FR 6968, Jan. 19, 2017]