Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News 

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The state of New York is considering a bill that would allow the governor to detain those considered a “significant risk to public health” and give the state permission to remove and detain cases, contacts, carriers of, or those suspected of being carries of contagious diseases. 

A report in The National Pulse outlines how the bill, A416, which is currently in line for consideration before the New York Senate and Assembly beginning January 5, 2022, poses a massive threat to personal liberties of American citizens. 

The legislation allows for the state to not only create detention locations, not unlike the ones currently being used in Australia, but allow officials to choose whether or not those who might be infected can receive medical treatment and/or vaccinations related to what are, as yet, undefined contagious diseases. 

According to the National Pulse, the bill would give the Governor of New York, or their delegates, including the commissioner and heads of local health departments and others, the right to remove individuals from their homes and detain people they suspect are dangerous with a single order, stating that the order only need include the individual’s name(s) or “reasonably specific descriptions of the individuals or groups.”

The state will then be allowed to hold a person, or group of people in a medical facility, or any facility that they deem appropriate in what seems to be purposefully vague language about the detention of those thought to be a risk to the community. 

“Though the bill attempts to state that no one shall be held for more than 60 days, the language allows for court orders to waive this maximum detention time,” the National Pulse reported. “After 60 days, the court is allowed an additional 90 days to consider the detention of an individual, a cycle that can last indefinitely per the opinion of the department.”

The bill, which can be read in its entirety here, says that it will “require an individual who has been exposed to or infected by a contagious disease to complete an appropriate, prescribed course of treatment, preventive medication or vaccination.” 

Some believe that if this bill were passed it would give the state the ability to detain anyone they wish and forcibly vaccinate them, due to the seemingly ambiguous language which refers to people and groups who “potentially” pose a threat. Further it has the potential to allow government entities to pick out those they believe are a threat, including those who may pose a threat in the future.

The bill does not qualify the type of contagious disease that would allow for the removal of a person’s liberties and allow them to be forcibly detained for treatment, leaving it open to interpretation. This would potentially allow those who have non-contagious (but infectious) diseases to be detained. 

Currently, the bill has received a huge backlash from New Yorkers, including negative responses on the NY Senate website.

Commenters have stated that, “this is disturbing and sets up a terrible precedent for future law. The governor can basically detain whoever [he/she] likes on the basis of scanty evidence. This is un-American. It [is] reminiscent of the Soviet Union locking up political opponents on the basis that they were “mentally unstable”. We CANNOT allow this in our state.”

“This is a violation of fundamental human rights. The government should be working for the people, not locking them up without cause.”

The full bill can be read here.