A South Carolina man was charged after lying about having the CCP virus, also know as the novel coronavirus, and caused a local business to shut down, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sitel immediately contacted the South Carolina Department of Health and asked employees who had interacted with Long to self-quarantine for 14 days.
However hospital officials told investigators that they had not seen Long within the previous two weeks, and his note did not have an official stamp from the facility, Wright said.
According to Inman Police Chief Keith Tucker, the hospital Long claimed to have seen him was not even conducting COVID-19 tests at the time.
“It seems to me like the fella just wanted a two-week, paid vacation,” he said. “You can’t do this to people.”
Sitel said in a statement that Long no longer works there anymore.
“Today, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office alerted Sitel that this employee made fraudulent claims about testing positive for COVID-19,” the company said. “The individual is no longer employed at Sitel.”
The number is considered to be highly underestimated because of the underreporting of cases from Mainland China.
South Carolina had reported two new deaths, bringing the statewide total to three. According to the Department of Health and Environmental Control, both of the patients were elderly and had underlying health conditions.