‘Starting last week in California, paranoid citizens began calling their local police departments via 911 to report their neighbors — for coughing. Seriously. Fast forward to this week, however, and we now have a hotline set up in Kentucky designed to take calls from people just like the ones in California who call the cops to report their neighbors for coughing.
On Monday, Kentucky Governor Beshear announced a COVID-19 snitch hotline that allows citizens to report people and businesses who they think may be disobeying the state’s social distancing mandates. The COVID-19 reporting hotline is 1-833-KY-SAFER or (833)-597-2337.
The governor’s decision drew immediate ire from Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie who compared it to a chapter out of George Orwell’s 1984.
According to the governor, the hotline will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Residents can leave messages after hours to make sure all reports are recorded. All calls will be answered by a Kentucky Labor Cabinet employee, according to the report.
In the metro Louisville area, citizens are urged to call 311 to report their neighbors who may not be complying with social distancing policies.
Apparently, the KYSAFER hotline was inundated with so many calls on Tuesday, that Congressman Massie’s attempt to contact them went to a busy signal. There are that many citizens out there waiting to tell on their neighbor for an alleged violation.’
