Quarantine

===Short-term quarantines, e.g. for decontamination===
Quarantine periods can be very short, such as in the case of a suspected [[anthrax]] attack, in which people are allowed to leave as soon as they shed their potentially contaminated garments and undergo a [[decontamination]] shower. For example, an article entitled "Daily News workers quarantined" describes a brief quarantine that lasted until people could be showered in a decontamination tent.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Anthrax-scare-temporarily-closes-Midland-Daily-7020034.php| title = Kelly Nankervis: Anthrax scare temporarily closes Midland Daily News| newspaper = Midland Daily News| date = 26 April 2005}} ''Daily News/ www.ourmidland.com''</ref>

The February–March 2003 issue of ''HazMat Magazine'' suggests that people be "locked in a room until proper decon could be performed", in the event of "suspect anthrax".{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

''[[The Standard-Times (New Bedford)|Standard-Times]]'' senior correspondent Steve Urbon (14 February 2003) describes such temporary quarantine powers:
{{blockquote|Civil rights activists in some cases have objected to people being rounded up, stripped and showered against their will. But Capt. Chmiel said local health authorities have "certain powers to quarantine people".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tognotti|first1=E.|title=Lessons from the history of quarantine, from plague to influenza A.|journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases|volume=19|issue=2|pages=254–259|doi=10.3201/eid1902.120312|pmid=23343512|pmc=3559034|year=2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Qureshi|first1=Adnan|title=Ebola Virus Disease: From Origin to Outbreak|date=2016|publisher=Academic Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-12-804230-4|page=62}}</ref>}}

The purpose of such quarantine-for-decontamination is to prevent the spread of contamination and to contain the contamination such that others are not put at risk from a person fleeing a scene where contamination is suspect. It can also be used to limit exposure, as well as eliminate a [[Vector (epidemiology)|vector]].<ref>{{Citation |last1=National Academies of Sciences |first1=Engineering |title=Implementing Quarantine to Reduce or Stop the Spread of a Contagious Disease |date=2020-07-14 |work=Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563999/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |publisher=National Academies Press (US) |language=en |last2=Division |first2=Health and Medicine |last3=Practice |first3=Board on Population Health and Public Health |last4=Policy |first4=Board on Health Sciences |last5=Response |first5=Committee on Evidence-Based Practices for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and |last6=Downey |first6=Autumn |last7=Brown |first7=Lisa |last8=Calonge |first8=Ned}}</ref>

New developments for quarantine include new concepts in quarantine vehicles such as the [[ambulance bus]], mobile hospitals, and lockdown/invacuation (inverse evacuation) procedures, as well as docking stations for an ambulance bus to dock to a facility under lockdown.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Min-Xia |last2=Yan |first2=Hong-Fan |last3=Wu |first3=Jia-Yu |last4=Zheng |first4=Yu-Jun |title=Quarantine Vehicle Scheduling for Transferring High-Risk Individuals in Epidemic Areas |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |date=27 March 2020 |volume=17 |issue=7 |pages=2275 |doi=10.3390/ijerph17072275 |pmc=7177222 |pmid=32230995 |doi-access=free }}</ref>