Florida Couple Jailed After Refusing to Quarantine

Two Florida Keys residents who ignored orders to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 ended up in jail Wednesday night. Jose Freire Interian, 24, and Yohana Gonzalez, 26, were charged with violating isolation rules for a quarantine and violating emergency management disaster preparedness rules, the Miami Herald reports. Both charges have a maximum sentence of 60 days. Key West city manager Greg Veliz says Interian and Gonzalez were arrested after neighbors at their apartment complex gave police a video of them flouting the order from the state health department. "There were complaints from the neighborhood of them continuing to be outside, going about normal life functions," Veliz says.

Interian and Gonzalez were arrested after a judge viewed the video and signed a warrant. Interian was released around 12:30am Thursday after posting $1,000 bond while Gonzalez remained in jail, Florida Keys News reports. A Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman says Interian and Gonzalez were kept isolated from other inmates in "negative pressure" rooms that did not allow air to escape to other parts of the prison. "We’ve had people in those rooms before we’ve suspected of having it," he says. "If they show symptoms, that’s where people are quarantined." (More Florida stories.)