53 year old Nelson County Kentucky man testing positive for coronavirus is forced into self quarantine after refusing to follow state health mandate as contagion increases over the weekend.
Kentucky officials have resorted to placing a 24 hour guard outside a 53 year old local’s house after the man tested positive for the novel coronavirus and refused to adhere to the precautionary policy of self isolating.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshar identified the man, a 53 year old Nelson County resident amongst three other cases in the state being diagnosed with coronavirus over the weekend.
According to the Lexington Herald Dealer the 53-year-old man tested positive for coronavirus at the University of Louisville.
When authorities insisted that he self-quarantine, he refused.
Gov Beshear criticizes “really irresponsible decision” of the Nelson County man now self-isolated at home against his will by law enforcement because he refused to cooperate otherwise. The man is unhappy, but he needs to think of others, Beshear says. ^JC
— Bluegrass Politics (@BGPolitics) March 15, 2020
‘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,’
Dean Watts, the Nelson County judge-executive, upon being informed of the un-named man’s resolve not to self isolate in turn declared a state of emergency, triggering a rarely used law that allows him to force a resident into ‘self-isolation or quarantine.’
A law enforcement officer has now been stationed outside of the man’s home for 24 hours.
‘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.
‘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.’
Unclear is why the 53 year old declined mandates to self quarantine.
There are now 3,244 cases of #coronavirus in the U.S.
It was 2,572 yesterday, 1,714 two days ago, and 539 a week ago.
👉🏻 https://t.co/ewTdXl9ngU pic.twitter.com/dvoKSPMDHT
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 15, 2020
Coronavirus continues to spread in the US:
As of Sunday, there are 18 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Kentucky the dailymail reports.
Beshear has since further instructed all hospitals in the state to suspend elective surgeries and procedures by the close of business on Wednesday.
All child care centers have been told to plan for closure on short notice.
‘We just have to do what it takes to lessen the spread of this coronavirus and I don’t want to be the governor that waits two weeks too late to take some of those steps,’ Beshear told reporters on Saturday.
The 18 confirmed cases include six in Harrison County, five in Fayette County, four in Jefferson County, one in Bourbon County, one in Montgomery County, and one in Nelson County.
The patient in Montgomery County attended Mass at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Mount Sterling last week.
Authorities have warned those who were in attendance to self-monitor for symptoms of coronavirus.
The patient is at home in forced self-isolation.
The worldwide outbreak has sickened more than 156,000 people and left more than 5,800 dead.
The death toll in the United States has reached more than 50, while infections neared 3,000 across 49 states and the District of Columbia.
The vast majority of people recover.
According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three weeks to six weeks to recover.
