A Georgia man who tested positive for the Wuhan virus COVID-19 and refused to self-quarantine has now been hospitalized for the disease.
The man and his girlfriend, who refused to be tested, continued to carelessly go out in public, according to the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies are seen below wearing personal protective equipment when encountering the couple — the tweet included the hashtags #DoTheRightThing and #Community.
A local male tested positive for COVID-19 & refused to self quarantine, he & his girlfriend (refused testing) kept going out in public. Our Deputies used precautions on scene. Both have now been hospitalized, him for COVID & her for other reasons. #DoTheRightThing #Community pic.twitter.com/feZUxvp4sc
— Haralson Sheriff (@HaralsonSheriff) April 5, 2020
The unidentified man is from the area of Tallapoosa, which is west of Atlanta, and had been previously hospitalized for the virus. He was told to remain inside when released, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
The girlfriend, reportedly hospitalized for non-COVID reasons, refused to comply with a court order telling her to stay quarantined.
Harlson Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy McSwain said in a Facebook post it’s “vital” that people “do the right thing” in the face of the national pandemic.
“It is vital that citizens who are diagnosed with or are exposed to this virus do the right thing and self quarantine,” McSwain said. “If you go out you could infect others who have to be out working. We must protect our citizens.”
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place order for the state of Georgia, that went into effect Friday, April 3 at 6 p.m. and will expire at the end on April 13.
“Building on the previous order and directives we have issued, this order is a common sense, measured step forward to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Gov. Kemp said. “This order maintains social distancing directives and requires residents and visitors to our state to shelter in place in their homes or place of residence.”
Kemp took heat for being slow to grasp that asymptomatic people could spread the virus — this was not widely reported early on.
“Finding out that this virus is now transmitting before people see signs,” Kemp said Wednesday. “So what we’ve been telling people from directives from the CDC for weeks now that if you start feeling bad, stay home. Those individuals could’ve been infecting people before they ever felt bad. But we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours.”
The reaction from social media users began with the question of whether the couple could be charged with endangering others.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses from Twitter:
Hopefully they will be arrested before being discharged. Going out after testing positive, should be attempted murder, the same as having sex with aids without telling the other person first.
— Dr. R. Davis PhD (@Grumpi) April 6, 2020
Sorry they forced this measure upon your deputies.
— Debbie (@Deb27Debbie) April 5, 2020
We agree Beth! Very dangerous!!
— Haralson Sheriff (@HaralsonSheriff) April 5, 2020
Good job officers. Please be safe out there guys. Go home safely. Our prayers are with you.
— Siafu Oxala (@SOxala) April 6, 2020
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