Despite Walt Disney World remaining open right up until mid-March, very few COVID-19 cases remotely relating back to the parks have been reported, and all with spurious variables, like trips to other theme parks and traveling through congested airports. Now, a 16-year-old guest who visited Walt Disney World during spring break claims that she was threatened with jail by a local sheriff if she didn’t remove social media posts saying she had COVID-19.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Wisconsin Institute for Liberty and Law filed a lawsuit against Marquette County Sheriff Joseph Konrath and a patrol sergeant, alleging that the sergeant went to the home of 16-year-old Amyiah Cohoon in Oxford, Wisconsin last month and demanded that she had to delete Instagram posts stating she had COVID-19, or otherwise she and her parents would face arrest.
Cohoon had suffered from severe respiratory symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 during her spring break trip to the theme parks. While she tested negative, her attorney claims that doctors believe she might have missed the window for testing positive. She went on to post on Instagram that she had COVID-19 on March 26, with a second post showing her hooked up to an oxygen mask in a hospital. Her parents contacted the school to alert other parents whose children had been on the spring break trip with her. The school then informed the county sheriff, who sent a deputy to her home.
The sheriff’s attorney claims that no one was actually threatened, and that her Instagram posts were causing unnecessary distress and panic throughout the school system.
