Kentucky Couple On House Arrest After Wife Refuses To Sign Self-Quarantine Papers
Jul 20, 2020, 9:35 AM | Updated: 9:40 am
(CNN) – A Kentucky couple is under house arrest after one of them tested positive for coronavirus and refused to sign self-quarantine papers.
Elizabeth Linscott said she was concerned about needing permission to go out and that it might slow her access to medical care.
On July 11, Linscott got tested for COVID-19 because she was planning to go visit her parents in Michigan.
“My grandparents wanted to see me, too, so just to make sure that, you know, if I tested negative, that they would be OK, everything would be fine,” Linscott said.
After testing positive but without showing any symptoms, she said the health department contacted her and requested she sign documents.
“Pretty much it was I agreed to consent to, I agreed to comply to call the health department if I was to go,” she said. “I was to call the health department if I was to leave my house for any reason.”
Linscott chose not to sign.
“I had gotten a message from them, a text message that stated, ‘Because of your refusal to sign, this is going to be escalated and law enforcement will be involved,'” she said.
On July 16, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office greeted Liscott’s husband, Isaiah, at the family’s front door.
“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?'” Isaiah Liscott said. “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.”
The couple was ordered to wear ankle monitors.
If they travel more than 200 feet from their home, law enforcement will be notified.
“We didn’t rob a store,” Elizabeth Linscott said. “We didn’t steal something. We didn’t hit and run. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
The couple said they never denied self-quarantining – they just didn’t agree with the wording of the documents.
“That’s exactly what the director of the public health department told the judge, that I was refusing to self-quarantine because of this,” Elizabeth Linscott said. “I’m like, ‘That’s not the case at all. I never said that.'”
Elizabeth Linscott said even without the ankle monitor, she had planned to be cautious.
She said if she had needed medical care, she would have let health care workers know she was infected with the virus.