COLUMBUS, Ohio—During the past week, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton has signed dramatic orders to stop the spread of the coronavirus: banning most mass gatherings and, most recently, preventing people from frequenting bars and restaurants.
While the state department of health hasn’t issued such sweeping orders in recent memory, the state’s power to rearrange everyday life has been established in Ohio law even before the creation of the Ohio Department of Health itself 103 years ago.
The legal basis for each of Acton’s orders is Ohio Revised Code 3701.13, which states that the Ohio Department of Health “may make special or standing orders or rules ... for preventing the spread of contagious or infectious diseases.”
Such authority was first given to the ODH’s predecessor, the State Board of Health, created in 1886 primarily to help coordinate the fight against tuberculosis.
In addition, state law declares that the state department of health “shall have supervision of all matters relating to the preservation of the life and health of the people and have ultimate authority in matters of quarantine and isolation,” which the department may declare, enforce, modify, or abolish as it sees fit.
Last week, Acton promised “very aggressive action” if infection hotspots are uncovered. “I’m not afraid of using those kinds of quarantine powers, but there’s the right time and the right trigger for them,” she said, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
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