Bar opening triggers COVID outbreak that forced Illinois school to close, CDC says
More than 600 students in one rural Illinois county were affected when a COVID-19 outbreak forced their school to close earlier this year. Public health officials now say a bar opening event is to blame.
The cluster of coronavirus cases also resulted in the hospitalization of a long-term-care facility resident, according to the CDC’s latest morbidity and mortality weekly report.
The bar, which wasn’t named in the report, opened its doors in early February, the CDC said. Two weeks later, the Illinois Department of Health launched an investigation into a possible outbreak linked to the event after several confirmed positive test results among those who had attended.
In all, 46 coronavirus cases were traced to a poorly ventilated grand opening event at the bar — 17 of which were among individuals who weren’t at the event, according to the CDC report.
Officials say the findings show just how easily the virus can be spread from one event. It’s unclear how many people were in attendance, though the bar can accommodate up to 100 patrons at a time.
“Bars can play a role in community spread of COVID-19 because of limited mask use while eating or drinking and lack of consistent physical distancing,” the CDC report reads. “These findings show that COVID-19 transmission originating in a business such as a bar not only affects the patrons and employees of the bar but can also affect an entire community.”
The agency did not name the county where the outbreak occurred. However, the report cites the Douglas County Department of Public Health and the city of Tuscola, about 25 miles south of Champaign.
Officials said some bar attendees reported feeling sick the same day of the event, while others experienced coronavirus-like symptoms days later. One attendee who tested positive after experiencing a runny nose two days after the event reported coming in close contact with at least 26 people at school either during in-person learning or indoor sports practice, according to the CDC.
Two student athletes would later test positive for the virus, and “local health department officials were notified by a school official that the school district would close for 2 weeks beginning February 18 because 13 staff members were in isolation, in quarantine, or absent because their own child was quarantined,” the CDC said.
The remainder of the secondary cases were reported in long-term-care facilities and at least eight households, officials said.
As coronavirus rules are relaxed and businesses begin to reopen, CDC officials said mask wearing, social distancing and capacity limits remain pivotal in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
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