united-states civil-law covid-19
Civil redress for having acquired a disease
<p>Are there any tested (i.e., upheld by previous court decisions) avenues for a person (or class of persons) to seek compensation or redress in the United States for having acquired a disease when they have behaved in a way that is recommended by health officials and others have not? The kind of examples I have in mind include the following.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I have a regular viral test for COVID-19. I only mix with other people if I tested negative on my last test. I wear a mask when I go out. I go to my regular church where a large number of other people are not wearing masks and apparently do not get themselves tested. I acquire coronavirus and suffer long term morbidity as a consequence.</p>
</li>
<li><p>My child has an weak immune response and despite being vaccinated against measles, does not produce a useful antibody response. She acquires measles from an unvaccinnated child at school during that child's asymptomatic infectious period.</p>
</li>
<li><p>I lose money because I cannot work as a waitress at my regular diner because I have a common rhinovirus and I'm sneezing and coughing a lot. I almost certainly got the virus from another worker who didn't stay home when she was coughing and sneezing.</p>
</li>
</ol>

<p>In case number 1 there is no clear target for liability. Any of &quot;a large number of other people&quot; could be responsible. Moreover, it is possible that some other person met casually, say on the street, is responsible -- transmission can and does occur even through masks. I don't see the kind of evidence here needed for a suit.</p>
<p>In case number 2 the evidence is better, but I am still inclined to doubt that a suit would be viable. One would have to show negligence on the part of the  unvaccinnated child or that child's parents or guardian. If vaccines are not mandated for measles that might be hard, and that child might have some valid reason for not using one.</p>
<p>In case 3 I doubt that the losses would be enough to make a suit worthwhile, since I think expert testimony would be needed to establish a valid cause of action in such a case.</p>
<p>I have read of people who were infected with a sexually transmitted disease by a lover (who knew that he or she was infected and did not inform a partner) bringing suit successfully. I don't have any case citations at hand.</p>
