One of the primary responsibilities of the Commis-sioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service is to fill health service, delivery, and leadership roles within Federal agencies and programs, including those that are also part of the Public Health Service. When assigned to one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 16 Quarantine Stations, they follow the specific uniform guidelines that created by the CDC.
Most of these CDC uniform guidelines follow the USPHS Commissioned Corps’ regulations to the letter, but there are a couple of unique additions. One of the most noticeable is the Quarantine Flag Insignia, a design inspired by the yellow flag flown by ships that must receive quarantine clearance before entering a port.
This gold pin-on Quarantine Flag Insignia serves as both a collar device and a Garrison Cap device. CDC Quarantine Station uniform guidelines specify that this device is worn on the left collar and the USPHS Commissioned Corps device is worn on the right collar of open-collar shirts. Similarly, the Quarantine Flag device is placed on the left and the Corps’ device on the right side of the Garrison Cap.