On Monday afternoon, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward released a statement on his office’s Facebook page denying his deputies installed ankle monitoring devices as claimed by a Radcliff woman who tested positive for coronavirus (COIVD-19), and refused to sign a quarantine order issued by the Hardin County Health Department.
K105.com published an Associated Press story on the incident Monday afternoon where Elizabeth Linscott told news outlets she was tested July 11. The test was returned positive for the virus. She said the health department emailed her a form to sign that said she would check in daily, self-isolate and let officials know if she has to be treated at the hospital.
The form said the isolation order is to “prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus in this state.”
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.
When she declined to sign the form, she said she was told the case would be escalated and on July 16, Linscott said she and her husband, Isaiah, were placed under house arrest with ankle monitors.
Ward responded by saying that, “On Thursday, July 16, 2020, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office delivered Notices of Orders to isolate and quarantine as directed by the Court, just as we deliver thousands of Court Notices each month …”
Ward, though, continued by saying, “The Hardin County Sheriff’s 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.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
