CHAPTER 328.
OF BOARD OF HEALTH.
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 345, VOLUME 16, LAWS OF DELAWARE, ENTITLED "AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH," BY CONFERRING ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY ON LOCAL B0ARDS OF HEALTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch of the Legislature concurring therein):
Section 1. That Section 3 of Chapter 345, Volume 16, of the Laws of Delaware, be and the same is hereby amended by striking out the words "contagious or infectious disease" wherever the same occur in said Section, and inserting in lieu thereof the words "sickness or ill health."
Section 2. That Section 3 of said Chapter and Volume, as amended by Chapter 33, Volume 18, Laws of Delaware, be and the same is hereby further amended by striking out all of said section after the word "run" in the thirty-fourth line thereof and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "and whoever violates any provision of this chapter, or any regulation of the Board of Health made in pursuance thereof, or obstructs or interferes with the execution of any such order, or willfully or illegally omits to obey any such order or neglects or refuses to comply with any requirement of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a common nuisance, and upon conviction thereof before a justice of the peace, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisoned for any time not exceeding thirty days, or both; but no person shall be imprisoned under this section for the first offense and the prosecution shall always be and as for a first offense, unless the affidavit upon which the prosecution is instituted contains the allegation that the offense is a second or a repeated offense. If such violation, obstruction, interference or omission be by a corporation, said corporation shall be subject to the aforesaid fine, and any officer of such corporation having authority over the matter, and permitting such violation, shall be subject to fine and imprisonment, or both, as heretofore provided.
That from the decision of the justice of the peace, under any of the provisions of this chapter, there shall be no appeal.
Section 3. That said chapter and volume be and the same is hereby further amended by adding to said chapter and volume the following which shall be and is hereby declared to be Section 17 of said chapter and volume.
"Every physician or other person having knowledge of any person who is suffering any disease dangerous to the public health, which the State Board of Health may require to be reported, shall report the same to the Health Board or official nearest his place of residence, giving the name, age, sex and color of the patient and the house or place where he or she may be found; and when complaint is made or a reasonable belief exists that an infectious or contagious disease exists in any house which has not been reported as hereinbefore required, the Board of Health or other health officers shall inspect or cause the house and locality to be inspected by its officers, and on discovering that such disease exists, the board may, as it deems best, send such persons to a quarantine hospital, or other place provided for such persons or may restrain them and others exposed within said house or locality from intercourse with other persons and prohibit ingress or egress to or from such premises."
Section 4. That said chapter and volume be and the same is hereby further amended by adding to said chapter and volume the following, which shall be and is hereby declared to be Section 18 of said chapter and volume:
"It shall be the duty of the Board of Health when a case of small-pox, cholera, plague, yellow fever, typhus fever, diphtheria, membranous croup or scarlet fever is reported within its jurisdiction, to at once cause to be placed in a conspicuous position on the house wherein any of the aforesaid diseases occur, a quarantine card, having printed on it in large letters the name of the disease within, and to prohibit entrance to or exit from such house without written permission from the Board of Health; and no person quarantined by a Board of Health on account of having a contagious disease, or for having been exposed thereto, shall leave such quarantined house or place without the written permission of the Board of Health; and every physician attending a person affected with any of the aforementioned diseases shall use such precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease as may be required by the Board of Health. No person shall remove, mar, deface or destroy such quarantine card, which shall remain in place until after the patient has been removed from such house, or has recovered and is no longer capable of communicating the disease, and the said house and the contents thereof have been properly purified and disinfected by the Board of Health, and where other inmates of said house have been exposed to and are liable to become ill of any of said diseases, for a period thereafter counting from the completion of disinfection, as follows, to wit: In diphtheria and membranous croup, 14 days; in small-pox, 17 days; in scarlet fever, 10 days; in cholera or yellow fever, 7 days; in typhus fever, 21 days. The Board of Health may employ as many persons as it deems necessary to execute its orders and properly guard any house or place containing an person or persons affected with any of the diseases named herein, or who have been exposed thereto, and such persons shall he sworn in as quarantine guards, shall have police powers, and may use all necessary means to enforce the provisions of this chapter for the prevention of contagious or infectious disease or the orders of any Board of Health made in pursuance thereof.
When a house or other place is quarantined on account of contagious disease, it shall be the duty of the Board of Health having jurisdiction to provide for all persons confined in such house or place, food, fuel, and all other necessaries of life, including medical attendance, medicine, and nurses, when necessary; the expense so incurred except those for disinfection, quarantine or other measures strictly for the protection of the public, when properly certified by the president and clerk of the Board of Health, or health officer where there is no Board of Health, shall be paid by the person or persons quarantined, when able to make such payment, and 'hen not, by the city, town or county, in which he or they were quarantined."
Section 5. That said chapter and volume be and the same is hereby further amended by adding to said chapter and volume the following, which shall be and is hereby declared to be Section 19 of said Chapter and volume:
"Whenever quarantine is declared, all railroads, steamboats or other common carriers, and the owners, consignees or assignees of any railroad, steamboat, stage or other vehicle used for the transportation of passengers, baggage or freight, shall submit to any rules or regulations imposed by any Board of Health or health officer; they shall submit to any examination required by the Board of Health or health officer; they shall submit to any examination required by the health authorities respecting any circumstance or event touching the health of the crew, operatives or passengers, and the sanitary condition of the baggage and freight; and any owner, consignee or assignee, or other person interested as aforesaid, who makes any unfounded statement or declaration respecting the points under examination, shall, upon conviction thereof before any court or justice of the peace, haying jurisdiction, be subjected to the penalties herein provided for violations of the requirements of this chapter and the orders of the State or Local Boards of Health."
Section 6. That said chapter and volume be and the same is hereby further amended by adding to said chapter and volume the following, which shall be and is hereby declared to be Section 20, of said chapter and volume.
"The State Board of Health or any Local Board of Health shall be authorized to erect any temporary wooden buildings or field hospitals deemed necessary for the isolation or protection of persons or freight supposed to be infected, and may employ nurses, physicians, and laborers sufficient to operate the same properly, and sufficient police to guard the same. The Board of Health may cause the disinfection, renovation or complete destruction of bedding, clothing or other property belonging to corporations or individuals, when such action seems to such board necessary, or a reasonable precaution against the spread of contagious or infectious diseases."
Section 7. That said chapter and volume be and the same is hereby further amended by adding to said chapter and volume the following which shall be and is hereby declared to be Section 21, of said chapter and volume:
"An offense charged under either of said sections shall be construed and held to have been committed in any county whose inhabitants are or have been injured or aggrieved thereby; and the continuance of any nuisance for five days after prosecution commenced therefor shall be deemed an additional offense."
Section 8. That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent herewith be and the same is hereby repealed.
Approved March 19, A. D.1903.