Public Health Law I: Complications of Federalism

This chapter will explain the origins and current operations of public health emergency law, at both the federal and state levels. You will learn how public health law in the United States began as an area entrusted almost entirely to cities and the states. As transportation, and with it the possibility of rapid disease spread, became ever faster and more accessible, the original reliance on local containment mechanisms became outdated. As you will see throughout this chapter, however, public health law in the United States still reflects a strong orientation toward state and local dominance.