When Tinara Lynch got a call from her employer, Land Shark Bar and Grill restaurant at Lake of the Ozarks, she felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Lynch, who is 21, could choose not to go back to work when the restaurant reopened, in which case she would be kicked off the unemployment benefits she'd been living off of since she and her co-workers were laid off in March.
But if she went back to work as a server, she risked bringing coronavirus home to her father, who has multiple sclerosis.
"I have to choose between going to work and making an income or basically refusing to work and quitting my job and staying with him and keeping him safe," Lynch said of her father. "I'm not in a position where I can't make an income at all."
Her first day back to the restaurant was Friday. The crowd size was typical for a holiday weekend as thousands of people descended on the lake, a regional tourist destination in Missouri.
As the weekend went into full swing, video emerged of crowded pools filled with hundreds of people ignoring social distancing rules and guidelines issued to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
The videos enraged many people online, drawing national attention.
Meanwhile, Lynch was stuck quite literally in the middle of the crowds.
Many customers didn't hear her say "excuse me" over the clamor of the restaurant as she squeezed through the crowd time and again.
She only saw a couple of people wearing masks the whole weekend.
"I'm pretty sure that everybody that has come doesn't really care at all about social distancing," Lynch said. "There's absolutely no way to even be six feet apart."
Though her employer said workers could wear gloves and masks if they wanted to, she doesn't recall anyone doing so, herself included.
Her job includes constantly talking to customers who already have a difficult time hearing her without a mask on. And she doesn't think gloves would do much good, since she's constantly coming in contact with people, menus and furniture. She washes her hands each time she touches a plate.
Lynch, who previously worked at Backwater Jacks Bar & Grill before she was hired on at Land Shark Bar and Grill last year, said the videos online of the crowds at her previous workplace matched the scene at Land Shark Bar and Grill, which also features a pool and swim-up bar.
Video of partygoers at a "Zero Ducks Given Pool Party" advertised by Backwater Jacks Bar & Grill had more than 18 million views on Twitter Tuesday morning.
Lynch estimates comparable gatherings could be found at at least half a dozen businesses in the area. Friends at other restaurants sent her Snapchats of similarly-sized crowds.
She's concerned area businesses, including her employer, are letting too many people in. She recalled the first time the restaurant got really busy Friday.
Everyone seemed to say "so much for social distancing" she said.
"We're not having any type of capacity hold at all, so it worries me that I'm being put in a position that's not safe," Lynch said, adding that the crowd inside would swell each time it began to rain, driving people indoors.
As of Tuesday, nearly 12,300 Missourians have been infected with the virus. More than 680 have died.
In the four counties the Lake of the Ozarks extends across _ Benton, Camden, Morgan and Miller _ a combined 60 people have tested positive for the virus. One person has died.
St. Louis County officials on Monday urged anyone who attended one of the crowded parties to self-quarantine for 14 days. Later that day, Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer said anyone who didn't practice the social distancing guidelines while at the lake should self-quarantine for 14 days "if they have any compassion for others."
Lynch doubts many of the people crowding the restaurants, docks and pools over the holiday weekend will self-quarantine. Why would they, she asked. They didn't care about being in such a large crowd in the first place.
She wishes she could self-quarantine for two weeks with her mother, who she's staying with her temporarily, before returning to her father's. But she can't do that because she works again Friday.
Lynch would have preferred her employer give them the option to extend their unemployment for a few more weeks as they monitor any affects that come of re-opening businesses.
When reached late Monday morning about a story regarding an employee, a manager at Land Shark Bar and Grill said he couldn't talk because he was on his lunch break.
Lynch also worries more people eager to get a taste of normalcy will start showing up to the lake now that the videos are widely circulated.
"Now that everyone in the world knows that we're open, that's terrifying," she said.
