As groups hold in-person gatherings amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, it feels unsurprising that contact tracing will reveal some of these spots as origin points for virus spread in communities. One recent example comes from Ohio, where one 56-year-old man who had COVID-19 attended an undisclosed church service on June 14. Fifty-three other people who were at the service became sick, with a total of at least 91 people from five different counties getting sick, as reported by CNN.
Here’s what we know about how this outbreak happened: The man with COVID-19 reportedly went to a church service, where 53 people became sick. From there, 18 of those people spread it to at least one other person; so for example, spreading the virus to one’s spouse and children.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who has coincidentally also tested positive for the virus as of Thursday, said on Tuesday that it is “vital” that “any time people gather together,” everyone wears a mask, practices social distancing, washes their hands, and ensures there is “good ventilation and airflow” while indoors. In the same press briefing, the governor added that community spread continues to be a problem in the state because of people seeing family and friends.
“It spread like wildfire, wildfire,” he said during the Tuesday briefing. “Very, very scary.”
As Daily Kos has covered in the past, this is far from the first instance of church services being a hotbed for the virus. Even still, some church leaders have insisted on holding packed services, with one pastor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, even getting arrested over defying the governor’s mandate on crowd size limits. One priest in Washington, D.C., recently tested positive for the coronavirus, which resulted in about 250 parishioners and staff members being told to self-quarantine. In Alabama, 40 people tested positive after a church event. In July, at least 12 cases were linked to a church in Tennessee that held in-person services.
Concerningly, we are already seeing a similar trend play out in schools. Among schools that have reopened for in-person classes this semester, we’re seeing reports of people testing positive for the virus, as well as the domino effect of others in contact with them having to self-quarantine. In one Georgia county, for example, the students hadn’t even arrived before 260 staff members had either a positive coronavirus test or close contact with someone who had one. One school in Indiana reported a positive COVID-19 test within literal hours of reopening. In Oklahoma, two students tested positive for COVID-19 one day after taking the ACT exam in person. In Mississippi, 116 students have been told to quarantine after one student tested positive for COVID-19; the school has been open for about one week.
You can check out Gov. DeWine’s briefing on the church outbreak below.