(Ky Herald Leader report)
The number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus increased by four Saturday in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced, including a patient in Nelson county who has been forced into home isolation after refusing to self-isolate. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky is now 18.
The patient from Nelson County is a 53-year-old man who tested positive at the University of Louisville, then left against medical advice, Beshear said. The Lincoln Trail District Health Department asked him to self-quarantine, but he refused.
A law enforcement officer has been posted outside the man’s home, Beshear said.
“It’s a step I hoped I’d never have to take, but we can’t allow one person who we know has the virus to refuse to protect their neighbors,” Beshear said.
Nelson County Judge-Executive Dean Watts had to declare a state of emergency in order to invoke a little-known statute that allows him to force a “self-isolation or quarantine.”
“We’ve got to make sure that people who have tested positive, that we know could be spreading the virus, and simply refuse to do the right thing, do the right thing,” Beshear said.
The number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus increased by four Saturday in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced, including a patient in Nelson county who has been forced into home isolation after refusing to self-isolate. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky is now 18.
The patient from Nelson County is a 53-year-old man who tested positive at the University of Louisville, then left against medical advice, Beshear said. The Lincoln Trail District Health Department asked him to self-quarantine, but he refused.
A law enforcement officer has been posted outside the man’s home, Beshear said.
“It’s a step I hoped I’d never have to take, but we can’t allow one person who we know has the virus to refuse to protect their neighbors,” Beshear said.
Nelson County Judge-Executive Dean Watts had to declare a state of emergency in order to invoke a little-known statute that allows him to force a “self-isolation or quarantine.”
“We’ve got to make sure that people who have tested positive, that we know could be spreading the virus, and simply refuse to do the right thing, do the right thing,” Beshear said.
