Cops on Spanish Island Charge Man in COVID Cases

A resident of the Spanish island of Mallorca has been arrested on suspicion of assault with an unusual weapon: COVID symptoms. Police say the 40-year-old office worker is responsible for infecting 22 others with the coronavirus, reports the Guardian. The man had a fever and a cough, but he not only rejected pleas from co-workers to go home, he walked around coughing and lowering his mask to say, "I'm going to infect you all," per the police report cited by the BBC. He may have been joking around about that (the police report doesn't specify), but co-workers and people at the gym he visited soon were infected.

Police say the man had been exhibiting symptoms for days and finally went to be tested for COVID. However, he reported to work and visited his gym in the town of Manacor before getting the results back saying he was positive. Three of the those indirectly infected are 1-year-olds, say the police. None of the 22 people have so far come down with a serious case of the illness. (Fully vaccinated Americans will be able to visit Europe.)