Report on quarantine on the Southern and Gulf coasts of the United States / by Harvey E. Brown.

  • Brown, Harvey Ellicott, 1840-1889.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on quarantine on the Southern and Gulf coasts of the United States / by Harvey E. Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    All expenses incurred by the quarantine are to be paid by the master or owner of the vessel, or by the person on whose behalf such expense is incurred. Penalties for violations of quarantine range from five to five hundred dollars fine, and may be collected before any justice of the peace. Per- 1 sons coming into town by land, if infected with dangerous disease, may be detained by the health-officer, and restrained from traveling, unless it is to return to the State from which he came. Pilots are directed to con- duct all vessels to quarantine that they find have infectious disease on board, for which they are allowed an extra fee of $7; and if, in conse- quence of his having gone on board of a vessel having contagious dis- I ease among her crew or passengers, any pilot is detained in quarantine, I he is allowed $3 per day for each day’s detention. Both of these extra \ fees are to be paid by the master or owner of the vessel. With these exceptions, no provision is made for the collection of fees, < leaving it to be presumed that the amount of such fees is optional with the town-council or the health officer. (Code of Yirginia, 1860, pp. 447, ] 448, 483.) The law of the State of North Carolina provides only for a quaran- j tine at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It is presumed if any other j port in the State desires a quarantine, that the municipal authorities j will take such action as they see fit. The health-officer (designated in the law as “medical quarantine officer”) is appointed by the governor, i and is authorized “to prescribe such regulations as may be necessary 1 for the protection of the inhabitants from contagious diseases.” He is j required to make out a monthly report of all receipts and disbursements, j and to pay over all moneys received to the treasurer of the State. The I State furnishes the boat for the use of the health-officer, and establishes 1 the quarantine hospital; but all persons employed at the station are I designated by the health-officer. Vessels subject to visit and inspec- I tion are required to pay a fee of $5, and every sick person taken to hos- | pital $3 a day, the vessel being held responsible for all such expenses. 1 The medical officer alone has authority to declare what ports are in- * fected. Pilots are required to bring vessels to the quarantine anchorage, and I, any pilot violating the law forfeits his commission. Masters of vessels and other persons refusing to obey the quarantine I regulations forfeit and pay a fine of $200 for every day they so refuse, 1 and all persons violating any regulation prescribed by the health-officer 1 forfeit $200 for each offense. All penalties and forfeitures so incurred I “ may be recovered before any jurisdiction having cognizance of the sum due, and applied, one-half to the informer, the other half to the pay- a ment of the expenses of the quarantine establishment.” The health-officer is authorized to issue his warrant to any sheriff or I other officer, commanding him to arrest any person violating the quar- antine. The compensation of the health-officer is fixed at $600 a year, 1 and of the boat’s crew at $20 a month. (Laws of North Carolina, 1868, I pp. 46-48.) • By the law of the State of Florida the mayor and aldermen of every incorporated town in the State, upon or adjacent to any bay, river, or harbor, or in the absence of such incorporation, the justices of the peace of any justices district, are constituted a board of health, who are authorized to take such measures as they may deem necessary for the prevention of the spread of contagious diseases, the expenses to be a charge on such incorporated town, or, in the absence of any incorpora- tion, upon the county, (except as subsequently provided for in the act.)