Health law experts denounce RFK Jr.'s hantavirus quarantine order as 'authoritarian' and 'unconstitutional'

Health law experts have condemned the Trump administration's use of 'authoritarian' and 'unconstitutional' quarantine measures for at least one individual who came into contact with a hantavirus patient. The mandatory quarantine, reimposed without scientific evidence, sets a precedent for detaining Americans with no public health justification.

Lawrence Gostin, a health law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, called the detention 'arbitrary, capricious, and unjust.' James Hodge, professor and director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, said health officials should never use unconstitutional techniques to control infectious diseases.

The case involves Angela Perryman, an American passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship, who had contact with a passenger infected with Andes virus, a type of hantavirus. She appealed a federal order to quarantine in a North Dakota facility, requesting instead to self-quarantine in Florida. The CDC asked states to provide in-person symptom checks and round-the-clock guards—an unusual step for a virus rarely transmitted between humans.

While some states complied, 10 other passengers returned home to self-quarantine. Florida refused. CDC's Michael Bell concluded Perryman could safely quarantine at home with remote monitoring. However, on June 15, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of HHS, overruled that conclusion, citing no scientific rationale.

Experts argue that the HHS secretary lacks authority to override CDC medical advice without proper oversight. Gostin noted Kennedy is reviewing his own order, calling it 'outrageous.' Hodge warned heavy-handed measures may encourage people to evade reporting, hindering outbreak containment.

Both Gostin and Hodge were involved in drafting CDC's 2017 quarantine rules and opposed allowing the secretary to overturn agency medical reviews. Gostin highlighted the irony: Kennedy's tenure has been based on medical freedom, yet he issued a compulsory deprivation of liberty.