A Kentucky couple was placed on house arrest and forced to wear tracking monitors after one of them tested positive for COVID-19 and refused to sign documents agreeing to self-quarantine.
Elizabeth Linscott of Radcliff told local media she wasn’t showing any symptoms but got tested for the coronavirus anyway because she wanted to visit her grandparents. After testing positive, she said health department officials requested she sign a Self-isolation and Controlled Movement order agreeing not to leave her house or travel anywhere without notifying them first.
Mrs. Linscott said her problem wasn’t with agreeing to self-quarantine but with one sentence included on the forms that read, “I will not travel by any public, commercial or health care conveyance such as ambulance, bus, taxi, airplane, train or boat without the prior approval of the Department of Public Health,” the Associated Press reported.
Mrs. Linscott explained, “I could not comply to having to call the public health department prior if I had an emergency or I had to go pick something up for my child or myself as a necessity and could not wait.”
“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,” she told a local NBC affiliate.
A couple of days after she refused to sign the order, Mrs. Linscott said the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department arrived at her home unannounced.
“I open up the door and there’s like eight different people,” her husband, Isaiah Linscott, said. “Five different cars and I’m like what the heck’s going on? This guy’s in a suit with a mask, it’s the health department guy and he has three different papers for us. For me, her and my daughter.”
The couple was fitted for ankle monitors and have been told that law enforcement will be notified if they travel more than 200 feet from their home.
“We didn’t rob a store, we didn’t steal something, we didn’t hit and run, we didn’t do anything wrong,” Mrs. Linscott said.
The Linscotts said they plan to get an attorney.
Hardin County Sheriff John Ward said his office was on hand to execute court documents from a Hardin County Circuit Court judge. It was the first time his office executed such an order, he told the AP.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.