By Lee Brown
A Kentucky coronavirus patient has been placed under police guard after refusing to stay under quarantine, the state’s governor has revealed.
The unidentified 53-year-old man from Nelson County recently tested positive at the University of Louisville, but left against medical advice — and also refused to self-isolate at home, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a press conference.
A local judge declared a state of emergency in order to invoke a little-known statute that allows him to force a “self-isolation or quarantine,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Law enforcement officers are now stationed outside the infected man’s home to make sure he does not leave and spread the potentially deadly virus.
“It’s a step I hoped I’d never have to take, but we can’t allow one person who we know has the virus to refuse to protect their neighbors,” Beshear said at the press conference.
Beshear also revealed that he had been tested himself — with results coming back negative — after attending a public event in Louisville where another attendee later tested positive.
“This, right now, certainly is us against the coronavirus,” he said at a press conference.
“And all we need from people — we’ve all gotta follow these guidelines,” he said. “We need everybody’s help to do it.
“We are part of Team Kentucky. We need everybody out there to be a good teammate,” he said.
With Post wires
When Government Fails In Kentucky 