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Coronavirus vs. Constitution: What can government stop you from doing in a pandemic?
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article241106636.html
BY HAYLEY FOWLER
MARCH 12, 2020 01:51 PM
<snip>
“You don’t have a right to assemble against the backdrop of known public health risk,” James G. Hodge told McClatchy News.
Hodge is the director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy and a law professor at Arizona State University. As the number of COVID-19 cases climbs, he said, the types of “aggressive measures” taking place in some parts of the country will be used elsewhere.
<snip>
Hodge said those declarations help shape how public health officials can respond at the state and local level, enabling them to act fast while instituting forms of social distancing — “which is one of the only tools we have available to us” during a public health crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Officials typically have to go through legal processes to close an establishment or shut down public gatherings, Hodge said. But under a state of emergency, everything is expedited.
“It’s not that we don’t have time for First Amendment interests, it’s that we must act fast,” he said. “What was opened today can be closed tomorrow.”
</snip>
BY HAYLEY FOWLER
MARCH 12, 2020 01:51 PM
<snip>
“You don’t have a right to assemble against the backdrop of known public health risk,” James G. Hodge told McClatchy News.
Hodge is the director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy and a law professor at Arizona State University. As the number of COVID-19 cases climbs, he said, the types of “aggressive measures” taking place in some parts of the country will be used elsewhere.
<snip>
Hodge said those declarations help shape how public health officials can respond at the state and local level, enabling them to act fast while instituting forms of social distancing — “which is one of the only tools we have available to us” during a public health crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Officials typically have to go through legal processes to close an establishment or shut down public gatherings, Hodge said. But under a state of emergency, everything is expedited.
“It’s not that we don’t have time for First Amendment interests, it’s that we must act fast,” he said. “What was opened today can be closed tomorrow.”
</snip>
Posting because I've seen the question tossed around. I recommend reading the whole article.