Florida Couple Arrested After Breaking Health Department's COVID-19 Quarantine Order

A Florida couple was arrested and placed in jail this week after neighbors reported them for violating quarantine.

Neighbors of Jose Freire Interian and partner Yohana Anahi Gonzalez had taken phone footage of violations of a quarantine order imposed against the couple by state public health officials, according to an Associated Press report on Friday. Per the authorities, the couple had learned they were infected with the virus on July 15. This resulted in being advised to wear masks at home, as well as a requirement to begin a period of self-isolation lasting "at least" 14 days.

When the couple decided to ignore all of that and hit up a grocery store on July 20, on July, the Florida Department of Health hit them with a mandatory quarantine order, calling the two "an immediate danger of harm to others."

On Wednesday, police received the aforementioned footage from neighbors, prompting them to request and ultimately secure arrest warrants from a judge. Freire Interian and Gonzalez were arrested at their Key West home, with the former saying he was "just walking my dog" at the time the footage was taken. The couple, now facing misdemeanor charges, was released on Thursday after posting bail. They are slated to make an appearance before a judge on Aug. 10.

For reasons not worth exploring, far too many people across the U.S. continue to recklessly eschew social distancing guidelines despite still-troubling COVID-19 numbers nationwide. In Florida, for example, the confirmed number of infections has surpassed 460,000.