Title 32.1, Title 32.1. Health

No county, city or town ordinance or regulation shall be less stringent in the protection of the public health than any applicable state law or any applicable regulations of the Board.

Any health department operating under the provisions of this article is empowered to seek and accept grants, bequests or donations of money and resources from private persons in support of projects conducted under the auspices of the Virginia Health Care Foundation or other preve…

Each local department of health shall post notice of the existence of a human trafficking hotline to alert possible witnesses or victims of human trafficking to the availability of a means to report crimes or gain assistance. The notice required by this section shall (i) be poste…

A. As used in this section: "Cooperative local health budget" means the total amount of state funds, local matching funds, and estimated self-generated local service revenues allocated to support a local department of health. "Estimated self-generated local service revenues" mean…

The Board shall promulgate from time to time a list of diseases, including diseases caused by exposure to any toxic substance as defined in § 32.1-239 and including diseases that may be caused by exposure to an agent or substance that has the potential for use as a weapon, that s…

Health care facilities that are required to report information about health care-associated infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) pursuant to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reporting requirements s…

A. Every physician practicing in this Commonwealth who shall diagnose or reasonably suspect that any patient of his has any disease required by the Board to be reported and every director of any laboratory doing business in this Commonwealth that performs any test whose results i…

A. The results of every test to determine infection with human immunodeficiency virus shall be confidential. Such information may be released only to persons or entities permitted or authorized to obtain protected health information under any applicable federal or state law. B. I…

A. The person in charge of any medical care facility shall immediately make or cause to be made a report of a disease required by the Board to be reported when such information is available to that person and that person has reason to believe that no physician has reported such d…

A. As used in this section: "Reporting entity" means a medical care facility, residential or day program, service or facility licensed or operated by any agency of the Commonwealth, school, or summer camp required to report an outbreak of a communicable disease pursuant to § 32.1…

Upon transferring custody of any dead body to any person practicing funeral services or his agent, any hospital, nursing facility or nursing home, assisted living facility, or correctional facility shall, at the time of transfer, notify the person practicing funeral services or h…

A. Prior to performing any test to determine infection with human immunodeficiency virus, a medical care provider shall inform the patient that the test is planned, provide information about the test, and advise the patient that he has the right to decline the test. If a patient …

Any person making a report or disclosure required or authorized by this chapter, including any voluntary reports submitted at the request of the Department of Health for special surveillance or other epidemiological studies, shall be immune from civil liability or criminal penalt…

A. The Board shall provide for the surveillance of and investigation into all preventable diseases and epidemics in this Commonwealth and into the means for the prevention of such diseases and epidemics. Surveillance and investigation may include contact tracing in accordance wit…

Every practitioner of the healing arts and every person in charge of any medical care facility shall permit the Commissioner or his designee to examine and review any medical records which he has in his possession or to which he has access upon request of the Commissioner or his …

The Commissioner or his designee shall preserve the anonymity of each patient and practitioner of the healing arts whose records are examined pursuant to § 32.1-40 except that the Commissioner, in his sole discretion, may divulge the identity of such patients and practitioners if…

The Board of Health may promulgate regulations and orders to meet any emergency or to prevent a potential emergency caused by a disease dangerous to public health, including, but not limited to, procedures specifically responding to any disease listed pursuant to § 32.1-35 that i…

A. The Commissioner, pursuant to § 54.1-3408, may authorize persons who are not authorized by law to administer or dispense drugs or devices to administer or dispense all necessary drugs or devices in accordance with protocols established by the Commissioner when (i) the Governor…

In any case in which the Board or the Commissioner has made an emergency order or regulation to meet an emergency, not provided for by general regulations, for the purpose of suppressing nuisances dangerous to the public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease…

The State Health Commissioner shall have the authority to require quarantine, isolation, immunization, decontamination, or treatment of any individual or group of individuals when he determines any such measure to be necessary to control the spread of any disease of public health…

The provisions of this chapter shall be construed to allow any isolated or quarantined person to choose his own treatment, whenever practicable and in the best interest of the health and safety of the isolated or quarantined person and the public; however, the conditions of any o…

Except as specifically provided by law, the provisions of this chapter shall not be construed as relieving any individual of the expense, if any, of any treatment, including any person who is subject to an order of isolation issued pursuant to Article 3.01 (§ 32.1-48.01 et seq.) …

A. Whenever any health care provider, or any person employed by or under the direction and control of a health care provider, is directly exposed to body fluids of a patient in a manner that may, according to the then current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prev…

A. If, in the course of employment, an employee of a public safety agency is involved in a possible exposure prone incident, the employee shall immediately, or as soon thereafter as practicable, notify the agency of the incident in accordance with the agency's procedures for repo…

A. The Commissioner or his designee may authorize the director of a local department of health, or any other organization that promotes scientifically proven methods of mitigating health risks associated with drug use and other high-risk behaviors, to establish and operate local …

A. The Department shall maintain a list of all agencies and organizations that submit requests for and receive opioid antagonists through its distribution program. At least quarterly, the Department shall submit a report to the Chairs of the House Committee on Appropriations, the…

A. The parent, guardian or person standing in loco parentis of each child within this Commonwealth shall cause such child to be immunized in accordance with the Immunization Schedule developed and published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Advisory Committ…

A. The Board of Health shall establish the Virginia Immunization Information System (VIIS), a statewide immunization registry that consolidates patient immunization histories from birth to death into a complete, accurate, and definitive record that may be made available to partic…

The Board shall, together with the Board of Nursing and by August 31, 2009, develop and issue guidelines for the administration of influenza vaccine to minors by licensed pharmacists, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, or emergency medical services providers who hold a…

The Board shall promulgate regulations establishing a protocol for the identification of children at risk for elevated blood-lead levels which shall (i) require blood-lead level testing at appropriate ages and frequencies, when indicated, (ii) provide for criteria for determining…

In accordance with the protocol required by § 32.1-46.1 and the regulations of the Board of Health promulgated thereto, the parent, guardian or other person standing in loco parentis of each child within the Commonwealth shall cause such child to be tested for elevated blood-lead…

Upon the identification of an outbreak, potential epidemic or epidemic of a vaccine-preventable disease in a public or private school, the Commissioner shall have the authority to require the exclusion from such school of all children who are not immunized against that disease.

The Department shall include in its vaccination plans procedures to ensure the prompt vaccination of all persons of school age in the Commonwealth, without preference regarding the manner of compliance with the compulsory school attendance law set forth in § 22.1-254, upon declar…

A. Nothing in this article shall preclude the Commissioner from requiring immediate immunization of all persons in case of an epidemic of any disease of public health importance for which a vaccine exists other than a person to whose health the administration of a vaccine would b…

A. The Department shall develop and implement a system for sharing information regarding confirmed cases of communicable diseases of public health threat with emergency medical services agencies in real time during a declared public health emergency related to a communicable dise…

As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Appropriate precautions" means those specific measures which have been demonstrated by current scientific evidence to assist in preventing transmission of a communicable disease of public health significan…

A. Any person or persons subject to an order of quarantine or a court-ordered extension of any such order pursuant to this article may file an appeal of the order of quarantine as such order applies to such person or persons in the circuit court for the city or county in which th…

A. Whenever the State Health Commissioner makes a determination of exceptional circumstances pursuant to § 32.1-48.05 and that the isolation procedures set forth in Article 3.01 (§ 32.1-48.01 et seq.) of this chapter are insufficient control measures to contain a communicable dis…

A. The State Health Commissioner shall, prior to placing any person or persons in isolation, prepare a written order of isolation that shall: (i) identify the person or persons subject to such order of isolation; (ii) identify the site of isolation, which may, in the Commissioner…

A. Any person or persons subject to an order of isolation or a court-ordered confirmation or extension of any such order pursuant to this article may file an appeal of the order of isolation in the circuit court for the city or county in which such person or persons reside or are…

Notwithstanding Rule 1:17 of the Supreme Court of Virginia, a court in its discretion may permit the electronic or facsimile filing of a petition, notice, brief, notice of appeal, or other legal document when such filing is necessary to expedite the proceedings or to protect the …

A. Any person who does not comply with a validly issued order of quarantine or order of isolation issued or prepared pursuant to this article shall be subject to the penalties provided in § 32.1-27, including, upon conviction, a Class 1 misdemeanor and payment of civil penalties.…

A. The provisions of this article are hereby declared to be necessary to prevent serious harm and serious threats to the health and safety of individuals and the public in Virginia for purposes of authorizing the State Health Commissioner or his designee to examine and review any…

Any person, including a person who serves in a Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit or on a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), who, in good faith and in the performance of his duties, acts in compliance with this article and the Board of Health's regulations shall not be liabl…

A. Upon the declaration by the Governor of a state of emergency pursuant to § 44-146.17, the State Health Commissioner, acting in concert with the Governor, shall be authorized to require the use of any public or private property, building or facility to implement any order of qu…

A. Upon receiving at least two verified reports or upon receiving medical evidence that any person who is reputed to know that he is infected with a communicable disease of public health significance is engaging in at-risk behavior, the Commissioner or his designee may conduct an…