A Kentucky couple were placed under house arrest and forced to wear ankle monitors after refusing to sign a self-quarantine order after testing positive for coronavirus.
Elizabeth and Isaiah Linscott said authorities from the health department and sheriff’s office showed up at their Radcliff, Kentucky, home Thursday because she declined to sign the order.
The woman had voluntarily tested for COVID-19 before going to visit her parents out of state and found she was positive but without symptoms.
She was told to sign a self-quarantine order that restricted the family to their home unless she first contacted the Hardin County Health Department, WBTV reported.
Elizabeth said she declined to sign the order because it meant she would have to wait and contact officials before seeking urgent medical treatment if she became very sick with the deadly virus.
Elizabeth and Isaiah Linscott of Radcliff, Kentucky, said they were placed on house arrest by authorities who showed up at their home Thursday because she declined to sign a COVID-19 self-quarantine order. Husband and wife are pictured from an in image posted on Instagram
The couple not only landed under house arrest, but were forced to wear ankle bracelets by their local health officials
‘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 said.
A spokesperson from the Hardin County Health Department was not immediately available when DailyMail.com reached out for comment.
Elizabeth recalled she had gotten herself tested for COVID-19 as a precaution before going to visit her parents and other family.
‘My grandparents wanted to see me, too,’ she said. ‘So just to make sure if they tested negative, that they would be OK, everything would be fine.’
The woman said that she was contacted by health officials after receiving a positive test result, which was when they asked her to sign the self-quarantine order.
Elizabeth said she had gotten herself tested as a precaution before going to visit her parents and other family.
Even though she declined to sign, Elizabeth told WBTV that she would still have followed the appropriate precautions if she had required medical treatment, including disclosing that she had tested positive.
Her failure to sign the ‘Self-isolation and Controlled Movement Agreed Order,’ brought an unexpected visit from the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday.
‘I open up the door and there’s like eight different people,’ said her husband Isaiah, who was home when authorities showed up, reported WAVE3.
‘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.’
Elizbeth Linscott’s failure to sign a ‘Self-isolation and Controlled Movement Agreed Order,’ brough an unexpected visit from the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office to her home on Thursday. ‘I open up the door and there’s like eight different people,’ said her husband Isaiah (left)
The ankle bracelets they now wear will alert authorities if the couple gets 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,’ Elizabeth Linscott told WAVE3.
She added that her intentions were not to defy the self-quarantine.
‘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 that was not the case at all,’ Linscott said.
‘I never said that.’
There have been more than 3.7 million cases in the US of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for more than 140,000 deaths.
Kentucky, which is among states which reopened from mandated lockdowns, has had more than 23,000 cases and more than 670 deaths.
As cases continue to rise across the country, Governor Andy Beshear announced Sunday that Kentucky had 979 new cases of COVID-19, which was the largest single-day increase in the pandemic for the state.
