[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9087-9088]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-4602]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-03-46]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call the CDC Reports 
Clearance Officer on (404) 498-1210.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c)

[[Page 9088]]

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Send 
comments to Anne O'Connor , CDC Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 
1600 Clifton Road, MS-D24, Atlanta, GA 30333. Written comments should 
be received within 60 days of this notice.
    Proposed Project: Restriction on Travel of Persons, (0920-0488)--
Extension--National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
    In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC 
consolidated regulations related to controlling the spread of 
communicable diseases. FDA formerly administered the regulations 
contained in part 1240 of Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, which 
pertained to interstate control of communicable diseases. These 
regulations may now be found in part 70 of Title 42, Code of Federal 
Regulations.
    Among the regulations in 21 CFR part 1240, FDA transferred to CDC 
certain sections that relate to restrictions on interstate travel of 
any person who is in the communicable period of cholera, plague, 
smallpox, typhus, or yellow fever, or who, having been exposed to any 
such disease, is in the incubation period thereof. One of the 
sections--formerly 21 CFR 1240.50 and now 42 CFR 70.5 (Certain 
communicable diseases; special requirements)--contains a requirement 
for reporting certain information to the Federal government. 
Specifically, this regulation requires any person who is in the 
communicable period of cholera, plague, smallpox, typhus or yellow 
fever, or who, having been exposed to any such disease, is in the 
incubation period thereof, to apply for and receive a permit from the 
Surgeon General or his authorized representative in order to travel 
from one State or possession to another.
    Control of disease transmission within the States is considered to 
be the province of state and local health authorities, with federal 
assistance being sought by those authorities on a cooperative basis, 
without application of federal regulations. The regulations formerly 
administered by FDA and assumed by CDC were developed to facilitate 
Federal action in the event of large outbreaks requiring a coordinated 
effort involving several states, or in the event of inadequate local 
control. While it is not known whether, or to what extent, situations 
may arise in which these regulations would be invoked, contingency 
planning for domestic emergency preparedness is now commonplace. Should 
this occur, CDC will use the reporting and record-keeping requirements 
contained in the regulations to carry out quarantine responsibilities 
as required by law.
    Because of the uncertainty about whether a situation will ever 
arise precipitating CDC's enforcement of this rule, the following data 
collection burden estimate was prepared using the article Smallpox: An 
Attack Scenario, Tara O'Toole; Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 5, 
No. 4, Jul-Aug 1999. This article describes the aftermath of a 
hypothetical domestic public health emergency situation involving 
smallpox virus. Of the potentially 15,000 persons infected with 
smallpox, the data collection assumes that one-fourth of these would 
apply for a permit to move from one state to another while in the 
communicable period of or having been exposed to smallpox. Should the 
event be different and/or involve a different number of people, the 
burden will vary accordingly.

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                                                                     Number of    Average burden/
                   Respondent                        Number of      responses/     response (in    Total burden
                                                     responses      respondents        hrs.)         (in hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Applicants (per application for a permit to move           3,750               1           15/60             938
 from state to state while in the communicable
 period of or having been exposed to smallpox...
                                                                                                 ---------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             938
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    Dated: February 21, 2003.
Thomas Bartenfeld,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 03-4602 Filed 2-26-03; 8:45 am]
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