What is the history of quarantines in America?

The first quarantine order on record was in 1377, when the Major Council of Croatia attempted to stop the bubonic plague. Before understanding viruses or bacteria, governments knew contagion required isolation of people who had been exposed. For that reason they mandated 1 month of “disinfection” prior to entering the country.

Quarantine comes from the Italian word for 40 (quaranta). This was due to the 40 days required by the first law enforcing ship travelers to stay offshore before docking. Only those deemed healthy at the end of the waiting period were allowed onshore.

In the early history of the United States, very little was done to prevent infectious diseases. One of the first local quarantines in recorded history was in 1738, when New York City attempted to contain smallpox and yellow fever.

In 1799 a yellow fever outbreak killed 5,000 out of Philadelphia’s 45,000 residents. This led to a quarantine station and hospital being built at the city’s port.

Each American state and locality enacted varying disease control measures, but with little success. Eventually, yellow fever outbreaks caused Congress to mandate the first federal quarantine in 1878.

In 1892 there were widespread outbreaks of cholera coming from European ships. This prompted Congress to pass additional legislation, turning local quarantine stations over to larger federal facilities. By 1921 all quarantine stations were owned and administered by the federal government.

The 1918 great influenza pandemic gained traction in American military bases. Some army medical officers began isolating symptomatic soldiers, but infections still spread throughout the world. Health authorities in major cities closed schools, churches, theatres and all public gatherings.

The 20th century saw two more pandemics hit the United States. In 1958 a worldwide influenza caused bans on public gatherings. The 1968 influenza pandemic was introduced by US Marines returning from Vietnam.

One of the least known quarantines was implemented by NASA. From 1967-1971 all astronauts returning from the moon had a mandatory quarantine period to avoid spreading any “lunar contagions.” The policy remained until Apollo 14, when the moon was determined to be sterile.

The years 2003 and 2009 saw additional pandemics with SARS and H1NI respectively. Both were milder than the Great Influenza of 1918 but paved the way for mass federal quarantine measures including social distancing. These were implemented to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19 during the global pandemic of 2020.