Attorney: Family Of Coronavirus Patient Was Not Told To Quarantine
CLAYTON, Mo. (CBS Local) -- The family of the St. Louis-area woman who reported symptoms for COVID-19 broke quarantine and attended a father-daughter school dance, officials said.
But the family was not told to self quarantine ahead of the official diagnosis, their attorney said.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said Sunday the patient's immediate family had been told repeatedly since Thursday to quarantine at their home in Ladue, after the young woman, who had just returned from Milan, Italy, after studying abroad, called the county's health hotline and told them her symptoms, CBS affiliate KMOV reported.
However, Page said the father took his other daughter to a father-daughter dinner dance with Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School (VDOH) at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton on Saturday.
Family of coronavirus patient was not told to quarantine, attorney says https://t.co/rTmKMQW4h9 #KMOV pic.twitter.com/d1BxhW02B7
— KMOV (@KMOV) March 9, 2020
Page said the county learned about the father-daughter dance on Sunday and officials told the man "to stay home or they will issue a formal quarantine that will require him and the rest of his family to stay home by the force of law."
But in a letter to parents, VDOH officials said the father and daughter didn't learn of the diagnosis until after they were already at the dance and then left the dance immediately. And the family's attorney, Neil Bruntrager, said the family was not asked to quarantine.
"Never, ever are they told that you have to quarantine," Bruntrager told KMOV. "There's no record to show that they were ever given any instruction regarding what to do and how to do it."
VDOH canceled classes all week and the Ritz announced it would undertake a thorough cleaning of their facilities.
Page said Monday it was time to forgive the family, as threats have been made against them on social media.