Coronavirus Watch: Memorial Day partier tests positive
Remember those crazy photos of the Lake of the Ozarks pool party over Memorial Day weekend?
One person who attended the party has tested positive. The infected person "was likely incubating illness and possibly infectious at the time of the visit," the local health department said.
Reminder: The Centers for Disease Control prevention still recommends wearing a face mask in public and keeping a distance of 6 feet from people who are not part of your household.
It's Saturday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 1:30 p.m. ET:
- The Supreme Court ruled against allowing churches in California and Illinois to reopen with more worshipers than allowed by current state restrictions, calling it a decision for elected officials and not unelected judges.
- President Donald Trump announced he is terminating U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization, blasting the multilateral institution as a tool of China.
- More than 1.7 million people have been infected and more than 103,000 have died in the U.S. Worldwide, there are more than 5.9 million infections and 366,000 deaths. See the numbers in your area here.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus? Submit them through this form. One reader asks: I recently quit my job due to coronavirus exposure. Can I file for unemployment?
Paste BN's Charisse Jones says the short answer is no – you can't collect jobless benefits if you quit a job because of a general fear of the virus. But if your job site is truly unsafe, you might have grounds to refuse to return and to get financial assistance while you are out of work.
"Fear is not a legitimate reason to refuse to return,’" says Justine Phillips, an employment attorney with the law firm, Sheppard Mullin, "and state unemployment agencies can disqualify the individual for benefits if they refuse to accept suitable employment when offered."
But a worker who's been collecting unemployment insurance and is particularly vulnerable because of underlying health conditions or a compromised immune system could apply for pandemic-related aid, says Michele Evermore, senior researcher and policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project. More on that here.
As always, thank you for subscribing! We appreciate you trusting the Paste BN Network with this important information.
– Grace Hauck, breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck