1. Can you make quarantine mandatory?
That it is possible. Indeed, there are countries that do or have done so, such as the United Kingdom and Belgium. But it is not simple, as it involves quite a few legal issues.
People who come from the “orange zones” are required to stay home for two weeks after their return. But this is voluntary and not monitored. In order to apply more coercion, the measure must be ‘proportionate’. This means that the scale should be proportional to what you want to achieve. In addition, it is very strict, as it restricts freedom. You are interfering with someone’s right to self-determination, according to health law experts at the University of Amsterdam.
Compare this to refusing medical treatment: only under special circumstances can a judge decide that a person should accept medical treatment, for example to protect public health. Hence, the public interest takes precedence over the individual interest.
“It is a major violation of freedom and fundamental rights,” Nijmegen Mayor Hubert Berlus, who is also the President of the Security Council, admits that the Cabinet has asked for mandatory quarantine options. But if it were necessary because the number of infections would otherwise greatly increase, the sheriffs would like to give this option.
