Two Floridians arrested for allegedly violating isolation order after testing positive for COVID-19

Two people were arrested in Florida on Wednesday night for allegedly defying a quarantine order from the state health department after testing positive for COVID-19.

Jose Antonio Freire Interian, 24, and Yohana Anahi Gonzalez, 26, were arrested in Key West, The Miami Herald reported. They were arrested on charges of violating a state law that requires isolation or quarantine in a public health emergency and violating emergency management.

The second-degree misdemeanors are each punishable by up to 60 days in jail, the newspaper noted.

Freire posted on his Facebook page July 14 that he had tested positive for the virus and urged those who had come into contact with him to get tested.

However, he and Gonzalez allegedly failed to follow orders to remain at home and wear face masks around others.

They both were been issued isolation orders from the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County on July 21.

Key West City Manager Greg Veliz told the Herald that the couple was reported to police by the property manager at their apartment complex.

The manager had reportedly captured them on surveillance camera in the common area of the complex, showing them leaving their apartment.

“An officer took the video to the judge and the judge signed the warrant,” Veliz said.

A spokesperson for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office told the newspaper that Gonzalez and Freire were kept isolated from other inmates in “negative pressure” rooms where the air is not recirculated into other areas of the jail.

“The whole idea is to keep them apart from the general population,” Adam Linhardt said. “We’ve had people in those rooms before we’ve suspected of having it. If they show symptoms, that’s where people are quarantined.”

Gonzalez and Freire have since been released from the Stock Island Detention Center after posting $1,000 bonds.

The Florida Keys reopened for tourists on June 1 after the island chain was closed for more than two months to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

As of Wednesday, there have been more than 1,198 known cases of coronavirus on the Keys and six deaths.

The state reported 9,956 new positive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of coronavirus infections to 461,379.