Even though his daughter exhibited COVID-19 symptoms, one dad decided to go against warnings to quarantine himself by attending a father-daughter dance that was being put on by her school.
The Frontenac, Missouri man reportedly ignored experts who warned him to keep away from others and stay home by taking his daughter to the Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School dinner dance at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton.
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According to KMOV, during the time that they were at the dance, test results came back showing that his other daughter did indeed test positive for the coronavirus. The girl was officially the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Missouri.
The father also attended a pre-dance party at a student’s home before the event, potentially exposing even more people to the virus. “The way the family has reacted to this situation is really a tale of two reactions and a study of how people should and should not react to the coronavirus,” said St. Louis County Executive Sam Page during a recent press conference.
Officials have made it clear that the family must now remain isolated in their home or they could face a forced quarantine by police. “The patient’s father did not act consistently with the health department’s instructions. Instead, he decided to take his other daughter to a school function.”
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As a precautionary measure, school officials decided to cancel classes the following Monday. “The likelihood of any of the Burroughs students contracting the virus is extraordinarily low,” wrote Andy Abbott, head of John Burroughs School, in an email to parents.
Shortly after this story hit the public, the family’s lawyer issued a response. In the statement, the family alleged that “never, ever are they told that you have to quarantine,” their attorney Neil Bruntrager said. “There’s no record to show that they were ever given any instruction regarding what to do and how to do it.”
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The lawyer explained that while they were waiting for their daughter’s coronavirus test to come back, the internist told the family that it was very unlikely that it was COVID-19, so they only quarantined the daughter during that time, Bruntrager explained to KMOV.
As soon as the father and other daughter learned the test was positive, they traveled back home and had been in their house ever since.