A Florida man who tested positive for COVID-19 and was busted along with his wife in Key West for allegedly violating a quarantine order insisted Friday he was just walking their dog and not trying to endanger anyone.<\/p>\n
I didnt do anything, 24-year-old Freire Interian told The Associated Press. I was just walking my dog. Its not as if I left the house to go shopping.<\/p>\n
Interian spoke out as the coronavirus continued to cut a deadly swath through Florida with the state breaking its daily death record for the fourth day in a down with 257 new fatalities, according to the latest NBC News tally.<\/p>\n
The numbing new figure was reported on the heels of Florida notching 253 deaths on Thursday, 216 on Wednesday, and 186 more on Tuesday -- all of which were new daily highs in a pandemic has turned the state into a COVID-19 hot spot.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Florida was being menaced by Hurricane Isaias and Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency from Miami-Dade County all the way up the states Atlantic coastline a stretch that includes the counties with the biggest numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.<\/p>\n
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As of Friday, Florida has reported 470,386 cases and 6,843 fatalities.<\/p>\n
Nationwide, more than 4.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported along with 153,480 deaths, the NBC News figures show.<\/p>\n
Interian was arrested along with his 27-year-old wife Yohana Anahi Gonzalez on Wednesday after neighbors videotaped them allegedly flouting the quarantine requirement, local officials have said.<\/p>\n
They were each hit with misdemeanor charges of violating the state law that requires isolation or quarantine in a public health emergency and with violating emergency manages, conviction on which could send them both back to jail for up to 60 days.<\/p>\n
Calling his arrest unfair, Interian said he was stunned when the Key West Police arrived at the house he shares with several other people.<\/p>\n
They knocked on the door real loud, he said. I opened the door. They told me, Come on, and I asked them, Why? I was in shock.<\/p>\n
Florida health officials, however, say Interian and Gonzalez learned they were infected on July 15 and were supposed to self-isolate for 14 days. But on July 20 they ventured out to a store and were caught doing so on video.<\/p>\n
Interian and Gonzalez appear to be among the first people to be arrested in Florida for breaking quarantine. But they arent the first to run afoul of local quarantine regulations.<\/p>\n
In Hawaii last month, 21 travelers were arrested for breaking the states mandatory 14-day quarantine, none of whom wound up testing positive. And in May, a 37-year-old Kentucky woman infected with COVID-19 was charged with wanton endangerment and criminal mischief after she was caught shopping for groceries while she should have been in isolation. It was the third time she had defied a quarantine order.<\/p>\n
In other coronavirus-related developments:<\/p>\n
Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.<\/p>\n
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Florida couple busted for breaking COVID-19 quarantine insists they were just walking the dog - NBC News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Florida man who tested positive for COVID-19 and was busted along with his wife in Key West for allegedly violating a quarantine order insisted Friday he was just walking their dog and not trying to endanger anyone. I didnt do anything, 24-year-old Freire Interian told The Associated Press. I was just walking my dog. Continue reading