A Kentucky couple refused to sign a self-isolation order. They were put on house arrest

A Kentucky couple said they were placed on house arrested after they refused to sign a self-isolation order when one of them tested positive for COVID-19.

Elizabeth Linscott told WAVE-TV she got tested for COVID-19 July 11 because she wanted to visit her grandparents in Michigan. She wasn't showing symptoms and received a positive result the next day.

Linscott said the health department asked her to sign a form agreeing to check in daily, self-isolate and let officials know if she has to be treated at the hospital.

Linscott said she declined to sign because of one sentence: “I will not travel by any public, commercial or health care conveyance such as ambulance, bus, taxi, airplane, train or boat without the prior approval of the Department of Public Health.”

“I could not comply to having to call the public health department prior if I had an emergency or I had to go pick something up for my child or myself as a necessity and could not wait,” Linscott said.

After refusing to sign, Linscott said she was told the case would be escalated and law enforcement would get involved. On July 16, Linscott said she and her husband were placed under house arrest and given ankle monitors that would alert police if they traveled more than 200 feet.

Linscott said she had planned to be cautious and would have told healthcare workers she had COVID-19 if she had needed medical care.

"We didn't rob a store," Linscott said. "We didn't steal something. We didn't hit and run. We didn't do anything wrong."

When asked for comment on this case, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward confirmed that his office delivered notice of a court order to isolate on July 16 but did not identify the recipient, noting that the case is confidential. Ward said his office "did not install location monitoring devices on anyone in Hardin County."

"We have no open cases, nor have we had any cases, involving the enforcement of a failure to isolate for positive COVID-19 testing," Ward said in a statement.

Lincoln Trail District Health Department spokeswoman Terrie Burgan declined to comment on the matter to protect the privacy of the family.

This is not the first time Kentucky residents have been given ankle monitors for failing to self-isolate. In April, four Jefferson County residents were ordered by a judge to stay in their home after refusing to comply with the health department's instruction.

The first forced quarantine order was for a man who failed to comply with self-isolation and went shopping the day before Jefferson Circuit Court Chief Judge Angela McCormick Bisig signed an order confining him to his home. Two others were ordered by another circuit judge to isolate after health officials learned they went in public against medical advice.

A fourth individual had not yet tested positive for COVID-19, but was in a household with one confirmed and one presumptive positive case. That person refused to sign an order to quarantine and did not respond to subsequent attempts to contact him by the health department.

Coronavirus in Lousiville: 4th Louisville resident ordered to self-quarantine with ankle monitor due to coronavirus

Similar to previous court orders, the fourth individual was instructed to get an ankle monitor from Louisville Metro Corrections and have his location monitored. It noted that failure to follow that order "may result" in "arrest for contempt of this order and/or additional criminal charges."

Contributing: Associated Press;

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kentucky couple refused self-isolation order, put on house arrest