A Kentucky couple is under house arrest after one of them refused to sign papers promising isolation measures after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Elizabeth Linscott of Radcliff, Kentucky said that she tested positive for the virus in early July but did not show any symptoms. Linscott made the decision to get tested as a precaution before visiting her parents.
She said the Lincoln Trail District Health Department asked her to sign documents that would require her by law to call them any time she left her house. While the young mother never refused to self-quarantine, she said she would not sign the documents because of how they were worded, WAVE reported.
“My part was if I have to go to the ER, if I have to go to the hospital, I’m not going to wait to get the approval to go,” Linscott said.
Linscott received a phone call from health officials who questioned why she didn't sign. They demanded that she sign the documents or else she would face legal action.
A few days later, Linscott’s husband Isaiah said the sheriff’s department visited their home, arriving without warning.
"I open up the door, and there’s like eight different people, five different cars, and I’m like, ‘What the heck’s going on?’” he told the outlet. “This guy’s in a suit with a mask. It’s the health department guy, and they have three papers for us. For me, her, and my daughter.”
A court ordered the couple to wear ankle monitors which will alert law enforcement if the two travel more than 200 feet from their home. The Linscotts have argued that they never refused to self-quarantine, but rather that they opposed the strict wording of the document.
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"And, that’s exactly what the director of the public health department told the judge, that I was refusing to self-quarantine because of this, and I’m like, 'that’s not the case at all,' I never said that,” Elizabeth Linscott said.
Linscott said if she did need to go to the hospital for COVID-19, she planned to take necessary steps like informing healthcare workers that she recently tested positive. The couple are now planning to hire an attorney to fight the allegations against them, and the draconian measures being taken to restrict their movements.
The case brings into question just how far the government is willing to go to keep tabs on citizens during the pandemic.
The Lincoln Trail District Health Department has not publicly commented on the matter.
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