The power to establish quarantine in this state shall also be vested in the governor; and whenever the governor shall deem it advisable for the preservation of public health and the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, he or she may, by proclamation, place under quarantine the whole state or that portion of the state that he or she may deem necessary, and he or she shall authorize and empower the state director of health to take any action and make and enforce any rules and regulations that may be deemed necessary to prevent the introduction and to restrict the spread of infectious diseases in the state.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-8-18