Coronavirus: Louisville judge places defiant patients under house arrest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky judge has ordered two Louisville residents to stay inside their home after refusing to isolate themselves amid coronavirus concerns.

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The two people live in the same house, but only one has been diagnosed with COVID-19, WHAS reported.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Charles Cunningham issued the order Friday, telling both people to remain at home and isolate themselves. The person who tested positive March 23 was seen by health officials taking a walk Thursday, Cunningham told the television station.

Monday, a Louisville police officer, who was in contact with both people, was sent home after reporting to work with a raised temperature, WHAS reported.

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It wasn’t the first case involving Louisville residents defying stay at home orders.

According to court documents, one man who tested positive went shopping March 21, WHAS reported.

Under state law, Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness has the authority to issue an “order of isolation,” the television station reported. The order is then signed by a circuit judge and deputies attach a GPS monitoring device to the patient. If the patient leaves their home, they could be arrested, WHAS reported.

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Officials with Louisville’s chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police said they are concerned about officers coming in contact with patients, and said people who test positive should be held accountable if they leave their homes.

“We are more than capable of handling anything the city throws at us, but in order for us to be confident in doing that, we need to know that we’re being taken care of as much as possible," FOP Lodge 77 spokesman Tracy Dotson told WHAS. "We don’t think it’s too big of an ask to be tested and to do the proper equipment that we need to do this job, and to do the ask that the city and the judges are asking us to do.”

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