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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 08121986 - 2.4 1 Te BOARD OF SUPERVISORS �f�'�t FROM , Contra Phil Batchelor, County Administrator Cx,JJtU DATE'. ��/ August 6, 1986 Iil� SUBJECT: Proposition 64 - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) SPECIFIC REQUESTIS) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION Recommendation: Adopt a position in opposition to Proposition 64, the AIDS initiative on the November 4, 1986 ballot.. Background: The Secretary of State has certified for the November 4, 1986 ballot an initiative statute dealing with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) . This measure will be Proposition 64. The ballot language will read as follows: "ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS) . Declares AIDS virus carrier a contagious condition, subject to quarantine and reportable disease regulation. Fiscal impact: The measure' s cost could vary greatly depending upon its interpretation by health officers and courts. If existing discretionary communicable disease controls were applied to AIDS, given the current state of medical knowledge, there would be no substantial change in state and local costs. If measure were interpreted to require added disease controls, costs could range to hundreds of millions of dollars per year depending on measure taken. " Current law (Health & Safety Code Section 3123) already authorizes the State Department of Health Services to establish a list of reportable diseases and requires that all cases of such diseases be properly reported as directed by the State Department of Health Services. In addition, Section 3123 provides as follows: "The state department may from time to time adopt and enforce rules and regulations requiring isolation ( strict or modified) or quarantine for any of the contagious, infections, or communicable diseases if in the opinion of the state department such action is necessary for the protection of the public health. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: �`�G✓�W-K _ RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR _ RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON ____ August 12, 1986 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT II AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES:_ _ NOES:__ __ AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. County Administrator cc: Health Services ATTESTED x_98 PHIL ZTC!HE1.1. CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY. 4�(C.x,(� j�,z ,DEPUTY M382%7-83 The health officer may require isolation ( strict or modified) or quarantine for any case of contagious, infectious, or communicable disease when such action is necessary for the protection of the public health. " This section appears to provide all the authority necessary to require reporting of AIDS cases, which has been done in California since 1983 . This section also provides all of the authority necessary for the State or the County Health Officer to require isolation or quarantine whenever such action is necessary for the public health. Division 4 of the Health & Safety Code, of which Section 3123 is one portion, provides extensive authority and procedures related to the control of communicable diseases. In the opinion of Dr. Wendel Brunner, Assistant Health Services Director - Public Health, no further legislation is required in this area. Sufficient legislation exists to accomplish all of the stated purposes of the initiative measure. We believe it preferable and more consistent with the past actions of the Legislature to leave the decision as to which communicable diseases should be reported to the professional medical staff in the State and County. In addition, however, to simply requiring the reporting of persons who have AIDS, the initiative also requires the reporting of all persons carrying the AIDS virus, regardless of whether they display any symptoms of the disease. The initiative language can also be interpreted as requiring the isolation or quarantine of every person who is tested positive for carrying the AIDS virus. As the attached report from Dr. Brunner and Mr. Finucane indicates, the isolation or quarantine of the carriers of the AIDS virus is "neither necessary nor effective in reducing the transmission of AIDS. " Since AIDS is not transmitted by casual contact, a community is at no risk from casual association with AIDS victims living or working in its midst. As a result, there is no medical justification to quarantine or isolate carriers of the AIDS virus form the rest of the community. The initiative does not provide Health Officers with any statutory authority they do not already possess. It also preempts the medical expertise of Health Officers in determining how to control communicable diseases. For these reasons, we believe the Board of Supervisors should oppose the passage of Proposition 64 . -2- •• = CONTRA COSTA COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES DEPARTMENT To: Board of Supervisors Date: July 18, 1986 via Phil Batchelor County Administrator From: Subject: Mark Finucane Larouche AIDS Initiative Health Services Directo by Wendel Brunner, M.D-1 - Assistant Health Services Director Public Health We are writing to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt a position in opposition to the AIDS initiative statute sponsored by the Lyndon Larouche orga- nization, which will appear on the November ballot. The initiative specifies that AIDS, and also the condition of being a carrier of the AIDS virus, be made conditions reportable by law to Health Departments, and that persons so affected be subject to isolation and quarantine. The initiative further directs that state and local Health Officers carry out their duties "in a manner consistent with the intent of this act". That latter provision would possibly require the exclusion of carriers of the AIDS virus from school , employment in schools, and employment as food handlers. We oppose this initiative because it adds- nothing useful to the efforts to control the AIDS epidemic. There already exists ample provisions within the Health and Safety Code to isolate and quarantine persons with communicable diseases, when such measures are necessary to protect public health. In our county we have never hesitated to use those provisions when indicated. We have closed public water supplies, restricted children from school or day care, barred persons from work as food handlers, placed persons under isolation and quarantine, and recently we had an individual arrested for failing to follow an instruction of the Health Department, all done when we felt those activities were necessary to protect the public from a risk of communicable disease. We have not instituted such measures with carriers of the AIDS virus however, not because we lack the legal authority, but because such measures are neither necessary nor effective in reducing the transmission of AIDS. As you are aware, AIDS is transmitted through blood or sexual contact. AIDS is not transmitted by casual contact, and a community is at- no risk from casual association with AIDS victims living or working in its midst. The first specific provision of the AIDS initiative, to make the disease AIDS a condition required by law to be reported to the Health Department, is completely redundant. AIDS has been reported by law in California. since 1983, and state and local Health Departments maintain information on AIDS cases in their juris- dictions. The second provision of- the initiative would make the condition of A-41 x/81 ' w Board of Supervisors -2- July 18, 1986 being an asymptomatic carrier of the virus also reportable by law. There are a variety ofissues to consider in properly determining whether to make a con- dition reportable; however, the most important consideration is how would the reported information be used to protect public health? Currently, there is no way that state and local Health Departments would use that information; isola- tion and quarantine is not indicated, and health education has already been directed at these individuals, generally in conjunction with the local Health Department's antibody testing programs. Existing law permits the State Health Department to make the. carrier condition reportable, however, should it be indi- cated later. The major objection to the AIDS initiative is that the intent of its .sponsors is clearly to require the isolation, quarantine, and restriction from school and employment- of carriers of the AIDS virus. That intent is made explicit in the draft Memorial Bill to Stop AIDS distributed by the Larouche organization. That proposal calls for the. mass screening of the population and segregation of carriers in isolation. centers to be established throughout the country. Larouche and his organization support this concept by public statements, including a recent appearance in the East Bay on KGO radio, that AIDS is spread by casual contact, coughing, fecal contamination, and..mosquitoes, all statements without any scientific basis whatsoever. The AIDS epidemic is frightening to the public and frustrating to health pro- fessionals. Lacking an effective treatment or vaccine, our best means to slow the epidemic is to educate the 'public on the modes of transmission and the effective means to reduce infection. The AIDS initiative spreads misinformation about AIDS, promotes AIDS hysteria, and would squander health resources on inef- fective activities. The initiative needs to be publicly opposed by responsible health professionals and public officials. MF/WB/gk 171arouche THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA i Adopted this Order on August 12, 1986 P , by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Schroder, McPeak, Torlakson, Powers NOES: None ABSENT: Supervisor Fanden ABSTAIN: None RESOLUTION NO. 86/490 SUBJECT: OPPOSING THE LAROUCHE AIDS INITIATIVE An initiative circulated by the followers of Lyndon LaRouche, hereafter known as the LaRouche AIDS Initiative, would require the reporting of names to local health authorities of all persons even suspected of being HTLV-III virus carriers or having AIDS, without the careful confidentiality safeguards of the present law. The LaRouche AIDS Initiative would allow the powers of quarantine and isolation to be more readily used by law enforcement and public health officials against HTLV-III carriers and persons with AIDS. The LaRouche AIDS Initiative would allow travel restrictions to be asserted by law enforcement and public health officials against HTLV-III carriers and persons with AIDS. The LaRouche AIDS Initiative would probably cause students and staff who are HLTV-III carriers or persons with AIDS to be excluded from schools. The LaRouche AIDS Initiative would create an atmosphere of a witch hunt making people' afraid to seek help even if they may be ill. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of 'Contra Costa County declares its opposition to the passage of the LaRouche AIDS Initiative. I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: _ �-A PHIL BATC LOR, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and County.Administrator By "'`� , Deputy RESOLUTION NO. 86/490