KY prosecutor seeks to force judge to issue quarantine order for man exposed to coronavirus.
A county prosecutor has asked the Kentucky Court of Appeals to make a circuit judge order home quarantine for a man who has been exposed to the coronavirus.
The case in McCreary County arose last week after Mary Miller, with the local health department, asked a 26-year-old man to stay home because he had been exposed to the coronavirus, according to the court record.
The man’s mother has tested positive for COVID-19.
He lives with his grandmother, but had been close to his mother on more than one occasion, according to a motion filed Thursday by McCreary County Attorney Austin Price.
Miller said in an affidavit that the man refused to agree to self-quarantine and be tested for the coronavirus, though his mother and grandmother did agree to stay home.
Miller said when she spoke with the man by telephone last Friday about getting tested, he hung up on her.
Miller said that was the fourth time the man had refused to talk with her in a meaningful way, including one call in which he used a profanity before hanging up, according to Price’s motion.
When Miller talked with the man’s grandmother, she could hear him coughing in the background, the motion said.
Price sought a court order last Friday, April 24, for the man to stay at home. Officials have not released the man’s name.
Circuit Judge Dan Ballou granted the request until an attorney could be appointed to represent the man at a hearing on Tuesday.
The man’s mother and grandmother testified by phone, but he did not testify, the motion said.
His grandmother testified that he had left her home twice for an extended period of time, according to the court record.
The man’s mother testified he’d had a cough well before the coronavirus pandemic started, calling it “smoker’s cough.”
Ballou ruled at the hearing that the man had in fact been exposed to coronavirus.
Ballou also said he felt he had the authority to order a person to self-quarantine, but questioned whether he had the authority to make someone submit to a test for the virus, provide temperature readings to the health department and speak with someone from the health department, Price said in his motion.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Ballou did not continue the order for the man to self-quarantine, Price said.
McCreary County Sheriff Randy Waters said he received reports that the man had been out in the community after the hearing.
Laura Woodrum, director of nursing for the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, said a nurse with the agency spoke with the man about the need for him to self-isolate for 14 days after exposure to the virus, but he “didn’t state whether or not” he intended to do it.
Price said he has great respect for Ballou, describing him as a “highly competent judge who exhibits a high degree of integrity” and respect for people’s rights.
However, he argued in the motion filed Thursday that requests for the man to stay at home and be tested were not burdensome enough to justify a decision “that potentially endangers an entire community.”
Price asked the Court of Appeals to require Ballou to order the man to stay home for 14 days and for police to enforce the order if necessary, and that he cooperate with the health department and get tested for the virus.
“I’ve got an obligation to the people of McCreary County to protect them,” Price said in an interview.
McCreary County had an earlier case in which authorities went to court for an order forcing a woman to stay home, and in another case, officials posted a police officer outside the home of a Nelson County man who had tested positive for the virus but left a Louisville hospital against medical advice.
McCreary County has had 11 total cases of COVID-19 but no deaths, according to the Lake Cumberland District Health Department.
