The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Vermont
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Vt. Const. ch. II, sec. 6 (legislative power); police power of the State; 18 V.S.A. sec. 102 (Commissioner supervises and directs the execution of all laws vested in the Department of Health and adopts rules to administer Title 18)
- Effective
- standing; in force throughout March 2020 to September 2021
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureGathering capQuarantine and isolationStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally ('any person responsible for contributing to the public health hazard or significant public health risk'); owners or persons in control of premises; specified businesses (food or lodging establishments, churches, schools, any other place of assemblage)
- Character
- statutory authority
- Collection
- Standing duties: Vermont DUT-VT
Operative words
A health order shall be effective upon issuance and may require any person responsible for contributing to the public health hazard or significant public health risk to take actions to protect the public health... (5) the quarantine or isolation of any area, persons... (6) the closing of and the prohibition of assemblage in any food or lodging establishment... or any other place of assemblage
Penalty
18 V.S.A. sec. 130(b)(6): civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, each day of a continuing violation a separate violation, with injunctive relief (Ex. DUT-VT-003); 18 V.S.A. sec. 131(a)-(b): fine up to $5,000 for failing or neglecting to obey an order, up to $25,000 or six months' imprisonment or both for refusing to obey (Ex. DUT-VT-004)
What it required
Any person responsible for contributing to a public health hazard or significant public health risk, including the owner or operator of any premises or business, to take the actions the Commissioner (or selectboard) orders: quarantine or isolation of areas and persons, closing of and prohibition of assemblage in any food or lodging establishment or other place of assemblage, cessation of contributing acts and processes, notice to users, and 'any other affirmative acts or prohibitions necessary to mitigate a significant public health risk'. Character as recorded: statutory_authority (enabling power; binds through the orders issued under it).
Retrieval noteVermont Statutes Online page rendered September 29, 2026 (text 'includes the actions of the 2025 session'). The 2021 amendment (2021, No. 15 (H.151), secs. 7-8, 'An act relating to vital records, mausoleums and columbaria, and emergency health orders') rewrote only the notice-and-service procedure of subsection (c) and the written-statement requirement of section 127(b), verified from the enacted act (legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2022/Docs/ACTS/ACT015/ACT015 As Enacted.pdf); subsections (a) and (d), quoted here, carry the 1985 text. 2023, No. 6 is the annual technical corrections act. Subsection (d)(7)-(10) also authorize 'the cessation of any acts, discharges, or processes contributing to a public health hazard or public health risk', notice 'to potential users, including travelers', and 'any other affirmative acts or prohibitions necessary to mitigate a significant public health risk'. Executive Order 01-20 para. 14 placed the Commissioner of Health in charge of 'the investigation, coordination and mitigation efforts' and required all local boards of health to 'consult with and abide by the direction of the Commissioner' (Ex. VT-001); EO 06-21 para. 1(b) continued that arrangement after June 15, 2021 (Ex. VT-044).