An employee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, US showed symptoms of coronavirus and a medical worker told him to avoid contact with others pending further tests. Instead of following the advice, the individual went to a mixer at a crowded music venue, The New York Times reported.

Just three days later he was confirmed as New Hampshire's first case of coronavirus. Following this, a second case, who was a "close contact" of the patient's, was also confirmed.

According to NYT, this has raised questions about what should happen when suspected patients ignore requests to self-quarantine.

"You can’t bring criminal charges for being a bonehead or just not doing what you were told was advisable to do [...] It’s not illegal to ignore the advice of your health care provider, or even the health department, until officials follow the particular procedures to issue a formal health order, and those procedures vary by state." — Faculty director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University Wendy Parmet.

Read the full NYT article here.