Category: CIVIL RIGHTS

Rules for thee, not for me! Meet the officials BREAKING their own quarantine guidelines

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Half of humanity is currently under some form of lockdown, and governments the world over have handed out harsh penalties for anyone breaking the quarantine. But some officials seem to think the rules don’t apply to them.

The Covid-19 coronavirus has infected more than 1.2 million people worldwide and killed 66,000. In an effort to slow the spread of the disease, governments have granted themselves unprecedented emergency powers, restricted travel, and confined citizens to their homes under the pain of fines or imprisonment.

But some of the leaders who make and enforce these laws aren’t following them. Instead, they’re living a normal life while the rest of us stew away at home.

Scottish health chief takes a virus VACATION

As Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Catherine Calderwood made a show of applauding frontline healthcare workers from her Edinburgh home last week. Then, when the weekend rolled around, she set off for her coastal retreat in the seaside town of Earlsferry, some 40 miles away. She was snapped there on Saturday by the Scottish Sun.

READ MORE: Scottish health chief RESIGNS after police tells her off for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules

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Regular Britons have been endlessly lectured by their government about avoiding non-essential travel, and have been ordered to remain at home until at least April 13. Boris Johnson’s government announced fines last month for disobeying the order, and Calderwood herself called on her fellow Scots to “comply with each and every one of these measures.”

Calderwood’s countryside retreat earned her a talking-to from the local constabulary, and eventually forced her to resign on Sunday, apologizing for not following “the advice I am giving to others.”

Ruth Bader GAINS-burg hits the GYM

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Gyms are petri dishes of bodily fluids, and amid a global pandemic, these fitness facilities have been shuttered all across America. In Washington DC, gyms have been ordered closed since mid-March, leaving bodybuilders to cradle their shrinking muscles at home.

Not Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Renowned for her disciplined workout regimen, Ginsburg has continued to work out at the court’s gym. Her personal trainer tried to advise her not to, but said “she ain’t having it.”

“If she wants to train, that’s the least that I can do,” he told Law360.

The court said that the gym has been reserved exclusively for Ginsburg, reducing the risk of infection. However, even being around her trainer could pose risks for the 87-year-old justice. Aside from the risks associated with her age, Ginsburg has already survived four bouts with cancer, having received treatment for pancreatic cancer as recently as last year.

In virus-hit NYC, De Blasio pumps his guns

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an ardent proponent of gun control. But good luck to anyone trying to take his arm cannons away. On the same day his administration closed schools, bars and restaurants three weeks ago, the mayor was scolded for hitting a public gym.

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Though gyms weren’t forced to close at that time, chains such as Planet Fitness, Gold’s, and LA Fitness all chose to shut down. But just like Ginsburg, the call of the iron was too strong for de Blasio.

Philippines Senator brings his virus TO HOSPITAL

Senator Koko Pimentel became the second member of the Philippine upper house to test positive for Covid-19 in late March. However, on the same evening that he received his results, Pimentel strolled into a Metro Manila hospital with his wife, who was due to give birth to their child.

Though he was still awaiting the test results when he entered the hospital, Pimentel had been tested more than a week beforehand, was showing symptoms, and claimed that he had been limiting his movement.

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He was hounded online for his “careless and arrogant behavior,” and the hospital he visited, the Makati Medical Center, denounced his “irresponsible and reckless action.”

A reprimand from the hospital was a relatively small price to pay for breaking isolation. A week after the scandal, Filipino leader Rodrigo Duterte took to national television to announce that he would give the police and military permission to shoot those breaching a national lockdown. “Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave,” he told would-be violators.

Duterte’s government did not punish Pimentel, who is a member of the president’s political party.

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Covid-19 has exposed ugliness of GLOBALISM & OPEN BORDERS – and given nations incentive to regain INDEPENDENCE

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By Mitchell Feierstein – 4/6/2020

Globalism’s open borders and just-in-time supply chains have been providing cheap labor and products — but the coronavirus pandemic has shown us the huge cost of neglected independence.

Covid-19 has opened the kimono of globalism, and what’s underneath is ugly. The virus has illustrated the importance of, and our reliance on, just-in-time supply chains. Supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link. If any ingredient is missing from that supply chain, the nation controlling that commodity can break it, causing devastating economic, geopolitical and social consequences.

For example, take emergency medical supplies and critical drugs. Most antibiotics, as well as the main ingredients to produce them, are made in China. India has prohibited the export of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug that President Trump touted as a “game changer” in the treatment of Coronavirus. Even basic over-the-counter drugs like paracetamol are “out-of-stock.” Hen’s teeth and capable Central Bankers seem easier to find than N95 facemasks, gloves, thermometers, pulse oximeters, hand sanitiser, and isopropyl alcohol.  We also rely on other nations’ electrical parts to run critical infrastructure, trucks, trains, planes and automobiles.

The imposition of national export bans on medical supply chain ingredients is a wakeup call for every nation state that has become reliant upon other nations for products they no longer produce domestically. Scarcity of critical commodities and medical supplies needs to be part of every National Security dialogue. People’s lives depend upon the unrestricted access to and supply of these drugs, medical products and equipment, which today, thanks to 30 years of neoliberal globalism, are now beyond our control. We need to rebuild this infrastructure and become self-sufficient in providing necessities. Right now, we don’t have the ventilators or drugs required to combat and treat Covid-19 — who decides who lives or dies? We should NEVER have been in this position — we must never be in it again.

Any disruption to our supply chain will result in a surge in unemployment and mortgage defaults, and people won’t be able to feed their families. Civil unrest has already begun in Italy, and it will go viral globally.

Countries need to urgently review and categorize which industries are a matter of national security or, more simply put, are a matter of life or death to their citizens.

When I stood for a seat in last December’s UK Parliamentary elections, independence, restoration of democratic principles and liberty, and financial conservativism were the cornerstone issues guiding my campaign. Each nation state needs to rethink and recategorize its priorities. The health, safety and prosperity of the citizenry should be placed above identity politics, the toxicity of an entitled cancel culture and mob rule by social media. When taking a sober look at Brexit and my reasons for wanting to leave the European Union, Covid-19 provides a stark reminder that in order for a nation to survive and thrive, independence, not interdependence on supply chains should be priority number one. Covid-19 has illustrated how interdependence can cost lives.

Covid-19 has ravaged Italy where the death rate has been oscillating between 11% and 14%. These are the highest recorded mortality rates attributed to coronavirus during this crisis. This is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. They need help and they need it now. They called upon the EU, but the cries fell upon deaf ears. The only help came from Russia. Last time I looked, out of the 154 countries I reviewed in 2017, Italy’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth over the previous 17 years was in the 152nd spot, right above Haiti and Zimbabwe. Italy has issued the most debt in the EU and owes around $4 trillion which, as I have been warning for years, Italy can never and will never repay. A default is imminent. The Great Financial crisis of 2008 caused Italy’s youth unemployment rate to skyrocket. By 2014, these numbers topped 42%, one of the highest in the EU, as Italy’s debt soared.

Of course, central bankers have the ultimate bailout solution. Just follow these instructions:

  • Step 1: For Windows, hit Ctrl+P; for Apple, hit Command +P
  • Step 2: Kick the can down the road
  • Step 3: Repeat step 1
  • Step 4: Repeat step 1
  • Step 5: Pray and delay
  • Step 6: Frantically repeat step 1
  • Step 7: Run for cover and shelter in place because our stupidity and hubris, along with too much debt, credit and leverage have crashed the global financial system.

These bankers’ policies have caused a system crash and the greatest economic depression in history is imminent. The good news is since Brexit has been approved, the UK will not have to pick up Italy’s debts, or the debts of the other fiscally profligate EU member states. The money saved will be spent on rebuilding industries, infrastructure and supply chains to repair Britain’s economy. The rebuilding of critical businesses will create thousands of high paying jobs across the United Kingdom at a time when employment opportunities are most needed.

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WHO Director Was Top Member of Violent Ethiopian Communist Party

Now we know why he loves China so much.

By Paul Joseph Watson – 4/6/2020

The Director-General of the World Health Organization is a former member of a violent revolutionary communist party in Ethiopia that denied emergency medical treatment to an ethnic group and he is accused of personally overseeing the extradition of dissidents who were later imprisoned and tortured.

As we have previously highlighted, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly parroted Chinese Communist Party talking points, constantly heaping praise on Beijing’s response to coronavirus despite the fact that China hid the truth about its spread and viciously silenced scientists and doctors who tried to warn the world.

Now we know why.

As John Martin explains in his excellent piece ‘The Crimes of Tedros Adhanom’, during his time in Ethiopia, the WHO chief was a member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a violent communist revolutionary party which was listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in the 90’s.

According to one Ethiopian newspaper, Adhanom was listed as the 3rd most important member of the politbureau standing committee in the TPLF.

Martin writes how the TPLF engaged in “systematic discrimination and human rights abuses” by refusing emergency healthcare to the Amhara ethnic group because of their affiliation with the opposition party. The Ministry of Health that oversaw these abuses was led at the time by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Birth rates were recorded to be significantly lower in the Amhara region compared to other regions and 2 million Amhara people “disappeared” from the subsequent population census.

As Tucker Carlson highlighted earlier this week, Adhanom “got his job with Chinese support after he covered up cholera outbreaks in his home country” of Egypt.

Tedros has denied the allegation, which centered around claims he had downplayed cholera epidemics in Ethiopia in 2006, 2009 and 2011 by passing them off as “acute watery diarrhea,” a symptom of cholera.

“International organisations were pressured not to call it Cholera (despite the UN testing the infected and finding Cholera), and were pressured by government employees not to reveal the number of infected. Another stunning victory for the health minister,” writes Martin.

After he was appointed foreign minister of Ethiopia in 2012, dissidents and journalists across the country were subjected to a brutal government crackdown, leading some to flee to exile in nearby Yemen.

Adhanom was personally responsible for negotiating the extradition of these dissidents back to Ethiopia, some of whom were subsequently imprisoned and tortured.

“One such case was a British citizen Andy Tsege who was arrested at Sana’a airport and twice given a death sentence in Ethiopia,” writes Martin. “This led to the involvement of the British government who threatened denial of aid to Ethiopia unless he be granted asylum. Tedros responded that Tsege was “being treated very well. He even has a laptop, have you ever heard of a political prisoner with a laptop?” Andy of course, after his return to the UK told a somewhat different story of being tortured for days on end, alongside dozens of other prisoners.”

Dissidents being imprisoned and tortured? No wonder Adhanom is so effusive in his praise for China.

It gets worse.

In 2016, the Ethiopian government attempted to force relocate 15000 people in the Oromia region because it wanted to requisition their land. This led to mass protests followed by mass shootings and a stampede that killed 500 people according to Human Rights Watch. The government then embarked on another brutal crackdown, arresting 70,000 people.

Adhanom subsequently tried to downplay the violence, falsely claiming the police weren’t armed and that the numbers weren’t as high as stated.

After ascending to his lofty position within the World Health Organization, Adhanom appointed mass murdering dictator Robert Mugabe to be a “goodwill ambassador” to the WHO while also defending Uhuru Kenyatta, under whose government 1,300 people were killed following rigged elections.

“Tedros of course takes every chance he can to praise the good governance of China, and given the human rights record of the People’s Republic, it’s no wonder he likes them so much,” writes Martin. “From projects like media propaganda centres, mass relocations, and social credit style score cards, Ethiopia’s governance in many ways resembles a carbon copy of the Chinese authoritarian model. Complete with a one party state and focus on profit over human rights.”

In the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organization, under Adhanom’s direction, amplified Chinese fake news that there was no “human to human” transmission of COVID-19 as late as January 14th, despite this having already occurred in December.

The WHO and Adhanom also repeatedly demanded countries not impose border controls, exacerbating the spread of the disease, while appearing to be more concerned about political correctness and the “stigmatization” of Chinese people.

“In a sane world, instead of leading a global organisation, Tedros and his cronies would be put on trial at the International Criminal Court, tried for his crimes, and if found guilty, should spend the rest of his life in prison,” concludes Martin.

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FAUCI AND BIRX BOTH HAVE BIG-MONEY BILL GATES CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Fauci and Birx BOTH Have Big-Money Bill Gates Conflicts of Interest

Faces of coronavirus pandemic response connected to globalists

By Patrick Howley – April 4, 2020

President Donald Trump is fighting to find a medical solution for Coronavirus in the short term, expressing hope that the anti-malaria drug Chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine can help patients suffering from the Chinese virus.

The truth is that President Donald Trump is locked in an intense power struggle with Bill Gates, who is pushing his vaccines, which may not be available to the public until after November’s election. Gates has a lot of pull in the medical world, he has a multi-million dollar relationship with Dr. Fauci, and Fauci originally took the Gates line supporting vaccines and casting doubt on Chloroquine.

Coronavirus response team member Dr. Deborah Birx, appointed by former president Obama to serve as United States Global AIDS Coordinator, also sits on the board of a group that has received billions from Gates’ foundation, and Birx reportedly used a disputed Bill Gates-funded model for the White Houses’ Coronavirus effort. Gates is a big proponent for a population lockdown scenario for the Coronavirus outbreak.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID, a division of National Institutes of Health, NIH) director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is represented by the Aurumn Speakers Bureau, initially criticized Trump’s hopeful assessment of Chloroquine, saying in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “There’s no magic drug for coronavirus right now,” and lectured, “Let me put it into perspective for the viewers .. there has been anecdotal non-proven data that it [chloroquine] works… but when you have an uncontrolled trial you can never definitely say that it works.”

But now Fauci has changed his tune and launched a public relations campaign huddling closer to Trump. Fauci said that he would definitely prescribe Chloroquine for patients. “Yeah, of course, particularly if people have no other option. These drugs are approved drugs for other reasons. They’re anti-malaria drugs, and they’re drugs against certain autoimmune diseases like lupus. Physicians throughout the country can prescribe that in an off-label way. Which means they can write it for something it was not approved for.”

But Fauci’s apparent hostility toward Chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine remains clear:

The true behind-the-scenes story is coming to light:

Bill Gates Cast Doubt on Chloroquine And Said He Is Running A Study On It

Here is what Gates said regarding Chloroquine in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session:

“There are a lot of therapeutic drugs being examined. This is one of many but it is not proven. If it works we will need to make sure the finite supplies are held for the patients who need it most. We have a study going on to figure this out. We also have a screening effort to look at all the ideas for Therapeutics because the number being proposed is very large and only the most promising should be tried in patients. China was testing some things but now they have so few cases that that testing needs to move to other locations,” Gates said.

Gates Is Funding Coronavirus Vaccine Candidates That Would Compete With Chloroquine, And Dr. Fauci’s Agency Is Co-Partnering On The Project

The company Moderna is working on a Coronavirus vaccine, which they expect will go into clinical trials in April. Dr. Fauci has heaped praise on Moderna and said that a vaccine is the only way to definitively assure the end of the virus. Gates is working on multiple Coronavirus vaccine projects.

The New Eastern Outlook journal reported:

“Gates Foundation money is backing vaccine development on every front. Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Pennsylvania received $9 million from the Gates-backed CEPI, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to develop a vaccine, INO-4800, which is about to test on humans in April, a suspiciously rapid time frame. In addition Gates Foundation just gave the company an added $5 million to develop a proprietary smart device for intradermal delivery of the new vaccine.

In addition Gates Foundation monies via CEPI are financing development of a radical new vaccine method known as messengerRNA or mRNA.

They are co-funding the Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech company, Moderna Inc., to develop a vaccine against the Wuhan novel coronavirus, now called SARS-CoV-2. Moderna’s other partner is the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Head of NIAID is Dr Anthony Fauci, the person at the center of the Trump Administration virus emergency response. Notable about the Fauci-Gates Moderna coronavirus vaccine, mRNA-1273, is that it has been rolled out in a matter of weeks, not years, and on February 24 went directly to Fauci’s NIH for tests on human guinea pigs, not on mice as normal. Moderna’s chief medical adviser, Tal Zaks, argued, “I don’t think proving this in an animal model is on the critical path to getting this to a clinical trial…

Add to this the fact that the Gates Foundation and related entities such as CEPI constitute the largest funders of the public-private entity known as WHO, and that its current director, Tedros Adhanom, the first WHO director in history not a medical doctor, worked for years on HIV with the Gates Foundation when Tedros was a government minister in Ethiopia, and we see that there is practically no area of the current coronavirus pandemic where the footprints of the omnipresent Gates are not to be found. If that is to the good of mankind or grounds to be worried, time will tell.”

The Hill reported:

“Going into a Phase One trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionably the world indoor record. Nothing has ever gone that fast,” according to Fauci.

While it is uncertain that Moderna’s answer is the solution, Fauci notes that the only surefire way to stop an outbreak is to develop a vaccine. Moderna manufactures drugs around messenger RNA molecules that carry instructions to reprogram cells in the body to operate differently and beneficially. Currently, its genetic technology has not created a vaccine for humans.

The first study of the vaccine will take place at NIAID. If it is successful, a second trial would feature closer to hundreds of people. Pending the results of future studies and regulations, the vaccine may not be readily available until next year, Fauci said.

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News reported in 2016 on Gates’ relationship with Moderna:

“Moderna Therapeutics said today it received an initial $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a new affordable combination of messenger RNA–based antibody therapeutics geared toward preventing HIV infection.

The grant is intended for use in the antibody combination’s preclinical study and a Phase I clinical trial. Gates Foundation’s $20 million funding could potentially grow into a total $100 million commitment—including the HIV antibody project—toward development of additional mRNA-based treatments for various infectious diseases, Moderna said.

“The foundation’s mission to help all people lead healthy and productive lives is well aligned with Moderna’s mission to deliver on the promise of transformative mRNA science to bring new medicines to patients,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.

Moderna said the development effort would be led by its infectious disease–focused venture company, Valera…”

Fauci Is Tight with Bill Gates

“He’s very good about not overpromising,” Gates said of Fauci in 2018 as Gates worked on a universal flu vaccine. NIAID Council minutes from 2019 show Fauci’s agency identifying a Gates Foundation workshop as being of interest. Gates met with Fauci in 2017 “to discuss research opportunities in global health.” In 2010, Fauci was named to the Leadership Council of the “Decade of Vaccines” Collaboration, which the World Health Organizations, Fauci’s agency NIAID, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation convened.

Fauci hung out with Gates in 2018 at an NIH workshop:

Gates Admitted That He Stopped President Trump’s Planned Vaccine Safety Commission With Robert Kennedy Jr. in the Early Days of the Trump Administration

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In October 2019, Fauci Announced A Partnership Between the Gates Foundation and Fauci’s Agency, In Which The Gates Foundation Pledged To Spend $100 Million

The American Journal of Managed Care reported on October 28, 2019:

“The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced plans to invest at least $100 million over the next 4 years to develop gene-based therapies for 2 diseases: HIV and sickle cell disease (SCD). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) will also contribute $100 million to the goal of advancing these potential cures, with an aim toward providing affordable, globally available treatment that will be accessible to patients in low-resource settings.

According to the NIH, the collaboration between the organizations will focus on 2 key areas. First, it will identify potential candidate cures for preclinical and clinical evaluation, and second, it will define long-term opportunities to partner with organizations in Africa…

“This collaboration is an ambitious step forward, harnessing the most cutting-edge scientific tools and NIH’s sizable global HIV research infrastructure to one day deliver a cure and end the global HIV pandemic,” said NIAID director Anthony S. Fauci, MD, in a statement announcing the initiative. “We are taking into account those with the greatest need at the foundation of this effort, to ensure that, if realized, this exceptional public health achievement will be made accessible to all.”

Dr. Fauci Is Speaking At The World Vaccine Congress in September Alongside A Coterie of Public Sector and Private Sector Folks From WHO, CDC, FDA, Merck, Pfizer, etc.

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Fauci and fellow Coronavirus response team member Deborah Birx Have Democrat and Globalist Elite Friends Including Gates and Nancy Pelosi

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Dr. Deborah Birx is garnering criticism for touting a disputed model for the Coronavirus outbreak prepared by the University of Washington’s IHME, a project of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Birx’s license to practice medicine in the state of Pennsylvania expired in 2014.

Deborah Birx Sits on the Board of The Global Fund, which is heavily funded by Bill Gates’ organizational network, as journalist Jordan Schactel discovered. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave the Global Fund a $750 million promissory note in 2012.

The Global Fund explains, “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a key partner of the Global Fund, providing cash contributions, actively participating on its board and committees, and supporting the Global Fund’s advocacy, communications and fundraising efforts. The Gates Foundation has contributed US$2.24 billion to the Global Fund to date, and pledged US$760 million for the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment, covering 2020-2022.”

When asked whether he had spoken directly to the President, Bill Gates clarified that he had spoken to the agencies most willing to carry out his agenda; the CDC and NIH.

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Coronavirus patients ordered to wear GPS ankle monitors…Louisville is forcing unwilling coronavirus patients to self-isolate. Is it right?

Deborah Niehaus, right, and her daughter Amelia Niehaus, 21, used scarves and bandanas for face protection as they waited at the Hope Southern Indiana food bank in New Albany, In. on April. 2, 2020. The agency has been providing donated food and toiletries to the public after most businesses have closed due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

By Kala Kachmar and Darcy Costello – 4/3/2020

Two Louisville coronavirus patients and a family member have been ordered by circuit judges to isolate and wear tracking devices after health officials learned they’d been in public against medical advice.

Issuing health-related civil orders is new territory for the courts, according to Judge Charles Cunningham, who issued two Friday. The third was issued earlier this month when a South End resident who tested positive for coronavirus refused to self-isolate.

But the orders are essential for keeping the community safe when infected patients refuse to self-quarantine, officials said during Mayor Greg Fischer’s Facebook Live briefing Tuesday.

[This story is being provided for free to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to The Courier Journal at courier-journal.com/subscribe. ]

As of Tuesday, seven people have died of the virus in Jefferson County and 18 across Kentucky.

“The home incarceration program is well-suited for this,” said Amy Hess, the city’s chief of public services, which includes oversight of Metro Corrections and Emergency Services. “It provides us with the proper amount of distancing. We can monitor activity after (the monitoring device) gets affixed to them … to make sure they’re not further affecting the community.

“We would prefer not to have to do it at all,” she said.

Also: How a church revival in a small Kentucky town led to a deadly coronavirus outbreak

Cunningham told The Courier Journal on Tuesday the two individuals he ordered isolated were living together, but only one had tested positive for coronavirus.

The city’s health department submitted a request for the order, which indicated one of the individuals was “walking around” and the other, based on a phone call, was thought to be out of the house, Cunningham said.

Not enough Louisvillians are taking pandemic guidelines seriously, Fischer stressed again Tuesday. In addition to closing libraries, community centers, the zoo and even some parks over the past few weeks, he’s instructed police to cut back on the types of calls for service officers respond to.

And, in response to a lack of respect for his orders, he even had basketball rims taken off backboards in parks.

Both Hess and Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad said the biggest fear is the spread of the virus among first responders such as police officers, firefighters and ambulance workers, especially when “the surge” of coronavirus patients that’s expected starts to overwhelm local hospitals.

So far, one police officer and two firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19, city officials have said. At least eight additional firefighters went into self-quarantine in connection to Louisville Fire’s two positive cases.

Dr. Sarah Moyer: These new symptoms may mean you have or are spreading the coronavirus

Too. Cute: Kentucky nursing home posts ‘thank you’ video to health care workers fighting COVID-19

A Metro Corrections officer who was sent to attach ankle monitors following Friday’s isolation order has a 101-degree fever and is being tested for COVID-19, said Tracy Dotson, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 77, which represents the workers.

Dotson said corrections officers haven’t received the same protective equipment as LMPD officers or Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies also sent to confirmed coronavirus patients’ homes.

“If we’re going to be doing this, fine. That’s what we signed up for,” Dotson said. “But we’d like to be adequately protected, as our sister agencies are. We don’t think that’s too big of an ask. If nothing else, just for peace of mind for those officers.

“It would make me nervous if I showed up in a paper mask and some safety goggles and I saw the two guys there to work with me from different agencies in full respirators,” he added.

Steve Durham, spokesman for Metro Corrections, declined to confirm whether an officer is being tested. He also said first responders wear personal protective equipment recommended by medical professionals, which includes a gown, goggles, gloves and a mask.

‘Feeling our way through’

The first judge to issue an order requiring self-isolation was in Nelson County March 15, when a 53-year-old checked himself out of the University of Louisville Hospital against medical advice after testing positive.

Cunningham said the state’s Administrative Office of Courts put out a 200-page document over a decade ago that gives emergency guidance to circuit judges on topics like public health.

“It’s something we’re all feeling our way through,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out how this should be done.”

Jefferson Circuit Chief Judge Angela McCormick Bisig’s March 21 order required the first Jefferson County individual stay in his home for 14 days. Any violations, it said, may result in his arrest and criminal charges.

It said the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department would serve the order and Metro Corrections would fit him with a global-positioning device. The order said he’d be constantly monitored to ensure he stays home.

What to do: 10 steps to follow if you think you may have the coronavirus

Dotson, spokesman for the union that represents Metro Corrections workers, questioned the ethics of using tracking devices on Louisville residents who have not been charged with a crime.

It is a judge’s order, he acknowledged, but “our mandate is once people are charged with a crime, we’re to do whatever it is we do with them.”

“These people aren’t charged with a crime,” he said.

“For my people on the ground, that’s a concern for them.”

Kentucky law gives county health departments the clear power to isolate infected patients who refuse to stay home. Isolation separates sick people with a communicable disease, while quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people potentially exposed.

Nelson County Judge-Executive Dean Watts said the involuntary isolation of the county resident was permitted after he declared a county emergency.

In most states, breaking a quarantine order is a misdemeanor, according to the Centers for Disease Control, although Kentucky law does not provide a penalty.

Courier Journal reporter Andrew Wolfson contributed to this report.

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