Missouri poll worker with COVID-19 still worked shift, died after election

A Missouri poll supervisor worked on Election Day despite knowing they were infected with the coronavirus — and has since died, local officials said Thursday

The election judge supervisor in St. Charles County got a positive COVID-19 test back on Oct. 30 and broke the recommended 14-day quarantine period to work at a polling site, county health officials said.

The county did not say when the person — who wasn’t publicly identified — died nor did it release an official cause.

The nine other election workers at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site were contacted by health department epidemiologists and advised to get tested for the virus, the officials said.

The county said it’s unlikely the supervisor had close contact with any of the 1,858 voters who were at the polling place on Tuesday, since tasks like handing out ballot materials wouldn’t fall under their job description.

Still, anyone who was at that polling site should be watchful for COVID-19 symptoms, the officials said.

All election workers in the county were mandated to wear masks or face shields at all times, and plexiglas barriers separated them from voters, St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr said.

The county’s director of public health reminded anyone infected with the virus to “be responsible to others in the community.”

“There is no more important duty than protecting the health of our families, friends and those who reside in the community with us,” Demetrius Cianci-Chapman said.

via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/missouri-poll-worker-with-covid-19-still-worked-shift-died-after-election/

Photo Credit: AP