COVID-19 cases linked to a Maine wedding that violated state gathering attendance limitations continue to increase. Last month, Daily Kos reported more than 50 cases including one death linked back to the Aug. 7 reception, which 65 people attended. Reports now indicate nearly 150 infections traced back to the Millinocket wedding reception, three of which resulted in death, health officials announced Friday.
The first death in connection to the wedding outbreak was reported on Aug. 21, in which a woman who did not attend the wedding was infected by someone who did, the Portland Press Herald reported. Since then two others died as a result of COVID-19 linked to the wedding. According to the state's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, all three people who died did not attend the reception.
The 147 cases linked to the wedding include both those who attended the ceremony and those who contracted the virus indirectly. The outbreak caused the local hospital to close its doors to visitors in addition to infecting other vulnerable spaces such as the York County Jail and a nursing home. At least 72 cases were reported in the county jail after an employee attended the wedding, Maine CDC Director Dr.Nirav Shah told NBC News. The jail is now enforcing the use of face masks.
In the nursing home, the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center, eight residents, and 11 staff members tested positive for the virus. Positive cases of coronavirus as a result of the wedding were also tied to Calvary Baptist Church, whose pastor officiated the wedding. Ten people associated with the church tested positive.
“One of the things that we’ve learned over the last six months … is that no outbreak is an island,” Shah said Thursday, during a press briefing. “What this really hammers home is that outbreaks are not isolated events. One outbreak can quickly lead to several more outbreaks, especially in a close geographic area.”
According to CNN, the updated numbers come just days after the health department announced that the Millinocket wedding had spread coronavirus to a nursing home and jail in Maine. At the time of the announcement on Tuesday, at least 134 cases and one death were reported linked to the wedding. The current number of infections, as of this report, more than doubled since the state’s CDC reported a total of 53 infections on Aug. 23.
"What we are dealing with is a giant tube of glitter. You open a tube of glitter in your basement then two weeks later you are in the attic and all you find is glitter and have no idea how it got there," Shah said on Aug. 25. "That's what Covid-19 is like,” he continued. “You open up glitter in Millinocket and next thing you know you are finding traces of it at a jail complex in York County. It's just emblematic of how quickly, silently and efficiently it can spread.”
As investigations into the wedding continue, health experts expect the number of cases to increase. It is still unclear whether or not attendees wore masks as per Maine’s coronavirus emergency order requiring to do so. While the wedding venue hosts, the Big Moose Inn, did not comment on the new data they issued a statement acknowledging the outbreak and its misinterpretation of the state’s capacity order. "We understood that there could be no more than 50 persons in our largest room," the venue said on Facebook. "We did make an error in the interpretation of that rule." The statement continued: "While we cannot be sure the virus was fully spread at our facility, we know that there are things that we can be doing better.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the U.S. has failed nursing homes and jails who have been hit hard with the virus. Those in these facilities have limited space and interact with one another daily. The structure of these facilities, in addition to the inability to practice social distancing measures, creates a higher risk of spread to the vulnerable than other spaces. In jails especially, inmates also have limited to no access to hygiene products furthering the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19.
As of this report, more than 6.2 million have been infected by the coronavirus in the U.S., over 188,500 have died as a result. In Maine, at least 4,682 cases of COVID-19 and 134 deaths from coronavirus have been reported, according to The New York Times database. The state average continues to increase. As Labor Day weekend and end of summer celebrations persist, health officials advise individuals to take precautions and understand the risks associated with the deadly virus “I’m asking you as you go into this celebratory weekend, the end of summer, the end of this cruel summer, please do your part to help us keep a grip on COVID-19,” Shah said.
from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/3lX4Pti
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