In March, Congress boosted unemployment insurance so that people could stay home and not catch the coronavirus currently killing a thousand Americans a day.

But now, as governors lift restrictions on commerce even amid the mounting death toll, some people are losing eligibility for the benefits before receiving a single dime.

Tracy McFetridge is a massage therapist in Springdale, Arkansas, who stopped working in March after Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) ordered a halt to certain business activities.

As a contract worker, McFetridge, 38, would not normally have been eligible for unemployment, but the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability (CARES) Act broadened eligibility to include independent contractors. Many states have struggled to update their systems, however, and it wasnt until last Friday that McFetridge was finally able to file a claim.

That same day, Hutchinson announced that more businesses could reopen including massage therapy. And state Secretary of Commerce Michael Preston said anyone claiming unemployment who refused to return to their job could get in trouble.

Thats a fraudulent claim for us, and we will be tracking that, Preston said at a news conference with the governor.

The menacing tone shocked McFetridge.

At that point, I knew they wanted people off unemployment, she said.

So this week, she returned to the small, windowless room where she gives 60- and 90-minute massages. She still filed her unemployment claim and expects to receive benefits for the month of work she missed, but from now on shell be back at her job, changing her shirt between clients and wiping down equipment as much as she can.

Going back to work and coming back in contact with everybody elses bubble kind of makes me nervous, she said.