Billy Kobin
Louisville Courier Journal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville woman who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus was arrested Monday after police said she refused a court order to self-quarantine and went inside the Kroger at Central Station.
Kendra A. Burnett, 37, was arrested just before 10:30 a.m. at the Kroger, 3165 S. Second St., after a Louisville Metro Police officer responded to the store on a report of a “COVID-19 positive subject who violated her court order to quarantine,” according to an arrest citation.
Burnett is also a former employee at the Treyton Oak Towers senior living community in downtown Louisville, which, as of Tuesday, had seen 35 residents and 15 employees test positive for COVID-19 and 13 residents die from the virus.
A spokesman for Treyton Oak Towers confirmed that Burnett worked for the senior living center from June 2019 until her dismissal on April 6, with no additional details given.
On Monday, Burnett’s mother pointed her out to the LMPD officer as Burnett left the store, the citation said.
The LMPD officer contacted the county attorney as well, who said Burnett had refused to self-quarantine about three times, according to the arrest report, which did not say when Burnett had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Despite a court order to self-quarantine and being fitted with an ankle bracelet, a COVID-19 infected individual left quarantine on Monday morning,” Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness spokesman Dave Langdon told The Courier Journal. “Louisville Metro Department of Corrections received an alert that the individual had left her quarantine area, and then notified MetroSafe, which dispatched LMPD to the scene pinpointed by the alert.”
Burnett was identified by her initials in an April 13 self-quarantine order from Jefferson Circuit Court.
The court order was sought by Louisville’s health department after she failed to sign an April 3 agreement to quarantine herself at home and did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls.
After public health officials were unable to contact her, LMPD officers went to her home on April 8 in an attempt to reach her. No one responded although her car was present and police detected activity within the home, according to an affidavit.
Neighbors also claimed that the individual had been seen coming and going from the residence, according to the affidavit from Dr. Sarah Moyer, director of the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness.
At that point, the health department sought the order from Jefferson Circuit Judge Charlie Cunningham for her to remain at home for 14 days or three days after no longer having symptoms while wearing an electronic monitor.
A spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office told The Courier Journal this week in an email that Burnett’s self-quarantine order was still in place “due to her lack of compliance/cooperation with the health department.”
In Monday’s incident at the Kroger near Cardinal Stadium and Churchill Downs, a store manager reviewed surveillance footage and told police that Burnett had contact with about five people while she was inside the store earlier that morning, the citation stated.
The listed violation time on the arrest citation is 8:58 a.m. Monday.
The store manager also told police that about 200 people were inside the Kroger while Burnett was there.
After she was arrested, Burnett kicked out the rear taillight of an LMPD vehicle as well as a door handle inside the vehicle, according to the arrest citation.
Langdon, the Metro Public Health and Wellness spokesman, said the department is “issuing an advisory to the Kroger store alert its employees to the date and time that an infected individual was in the store and to the symptoms of COVID-19.”
“According to CDC protocols, close contact with a COVID-19 infected person is defined as being within 6 feet of an infected individual for fifteen minutes or longer,” Langdon wrote in an email. “Based on these protocols, it is unlikely that customers who were in the store at the time are at risk due to this exposure.”
In a statement, Kroger spokeswoman Erin Grant said the “safety of our customers and associates is always our top priority.”
“This incident is unfortunate, and Kroger always encourages those feeling ill to stay Healthy at Home,” Grant wrote in an email. “In addition to our already expanded cleaning initiatives, the store team has deep cleaned all areas like frozen and dairy door handles, service counters, all check lanes and bathrooms that the customer may have come in contact with immediately after she left the store. We currently have a standard practice of doing this type of cleaning multiple times per day in every store.”
Grant later added that Kroger reviewed footage and determined Burnett did not come into contact with any customers but had “two brief interactions” with an employee inside the store and “one brief interaction” with an employee in the wine and spirits shop.
“We have plexiglass dividers at all areas of point of sale as an additional safety measure. She wore a mask and gloves while in the store, and did not touch any product that she did not purchase,” Grant said.
Since March 23, Louisville’s health department has required all residents who are infected with COVID-19 or come into contact with someone who has a confirmed case of the virus to self-quarantine or isolate.
Local, state and federal laws allow involuntary quarantines to protect the spread of infectious diseases.
Similar self-quarantine orders have been issued in recent weeks in Jefferson and Nelson counties after residents who were diagnosed with COVID-19 refused to stay at home or obey the orders.
Burnett was charged with five counts of first-degree wanton endangerment as well as one count each of contempt of court and second-degree criminal mischief.
Burnett appeared for an arraignment hearing Tuesday morning, and she was released to home incarceration after a $5,000 bond was posted, court records show.
She is represented by a public defender, according to online court records, and her next court date was scheduled for June 3.