Can you be fired for testing positive for COVID-19? A Pasadena woman said her father was terminated after a positive COVID-19 test. Houston - Ivonne Villarreal says she furious that her 69-year-old father was fired and cut off from his health insurance on the same day he told his employer he tested positive for COVID-19. That was December 30. The next day, his symptoms got worse. He had to go to the hospital. We wouldn t have known that his insurance was terminated until I got the letter, Ivonne noted. The letter she refers to were his options through COBRA which gives some workers who lose health benefits the right to continue coverage for a limited time and, typically, it s expensive.