A Kentucky pastor who was one of just seven churches in the state to have in-person Easter services last week has declared he will not comply with a mandatory 14 day quarantine that has been foisted upon him as a result of his decision, along with several other congregants who attended the service at Marysville Baptist Church.
The church was greeted on Sunday morning not only with nails strewn all across the parking lot (surely a criminal act of vandalism if not persecution) but also several police officers who recorded the licence plates of all the vehicles of the attendees. While Some members covered up their plates with signs like these
It did not deter the officers, who simply captured their VIN numbers. Along with recording all their plates, they gave the vehicle occupants formal notices ordering them to a mandatory 14-day quarantine after they left the service, due to violating the state’s emergency order not to mass gather.
Beshear had previously threatened that anyone attending a gathering would face a misdemeanour charge. The notice given to the congregants reads:
One of the most salient portions is the line informing “further enforcement measures” will be levied against those who fail to comply with the mandatory quarantine.
At the time of this article being written, the Pastor of the Church, Jack Roberts, and several congregants have indicated that they will not comply with the mandatory order to quarantine. Roberts stated that if the Health Department gives him an order to quarantine, he will ignore it while his lawyer handles it.
For all intents and purposes, the church is planning to have service again this coming week which directly put them in violation of the orders. The posted notice indicated that any violation of the order results in a class A misdemeanor charge. In Kentucky, A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by 90 days to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $500.
As far as how specifically the police will begin enforcing the mandatory quarantine, we may get some indications from an earlier incident. Last month in Kentucky a patient who was confirmed to have coronavirus but initially refused to quarantine had deputies surround his home, parked their squad cars outside of his house, and gave him 24 hours surveillance for two weeks.
