At least seven people have died in connection to a coronavirus outbreak following a Maine wedding reception held over the summer that violated state virus guidelines. None of the seven people attended the wedding.
What We Know:
- The August wedding, which was held at Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of coronavirus according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Maine authorities have identified overlaps between the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state. The virus cases stemming from the wedding span hundreds of miles in a state that largely contained the spread of coronavirus throughout the summer. Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.
- Maine Health officials connected the event to outbreaks at a nursing home and a jail across the state. The outbreak at a Madison rehabilitation center, which is the site of six of the seven deaths, is connected with the wedding. One employee of the facility lives in the same household as a person who attended the event. The six people from the facility who died were all residents of that facility and none of them attended the wedding reception, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC.
“Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and I’m asking everyone else to share in that concern. COVID-19, right now, is not on the other side of the fence. It is in our yards,” Shah said. “The gains that Maine has made against COVID-19 are ones that could, and unfortunately can, be washed away.”
- State health officials are still working to connect other outbreaks across the state to this wedding. The wedding was officiated by pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, which the Maine CDC is currently investigating to determine if an outbreak at the church is connected to the wedding. That outbreak has sickened 10 people at the church so far, Shah said. Calvary Baptist Church issued a statement on Tuesday that said “a number of Calvary Baptist Church members attended the wedding reception”. The statement goes on to say the church is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus, and it will defend its right to continue holding services.
- Bell, and the church congregants, have been critical of the government’s attempt to control the virus and there is video of Bell’s church services where no social distancing is occurring and masks are not required to be worn. “The Calvary Baptist Church has a legal right to meet. The authority of a local Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a Muslim mosque to gather for their respective religious services is a time-honored part of our nation’s history since its inception,” the church’s statement said. “These religious activities are also fully protected under the First Amendment to our United States Constitution.” Bell has since hired a lawyer known nationally for defending the religious rights of churches.
- The current state guidelines have an event capacity of 50 people, but authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding. Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long said the agency’s investigations suggest “multiple potential points of transmission related to the August 7 wedding and reception.” The agency is working to limit the spread of the virus and support people affected by it, he said.
The state’s percent positivity rate has ticked up to 0.63% for the previous seven days, an increase from the previous rate of less than half a percentage point. While Maine’s rate remains well below the national average of about 5%, Shah warns everyone to do their part to control the potentially deadly spread.
