Coronavirus outbreak after Maine wedding sickens 147, kills 3, health officials say

Coronavirus hadn’t yet touched Millinocket, a town of about 12,500 people in Maine once known for its paper mill, when the Big Moose Inn hosted an Aug. 7 wedding reception, The Washington Post reports.

About 65 people attended, exceeding a state cap of 50 people for indoor gatherings, but Big Moose Inn workers thought it would be acceptable to spread the reception across two rooms, CNN reported.

“The big thing we noticed was that everybody was close together and there were no masks,” said hotel guest Rich Zaker, The Washington Post reported. “In fact, my wife said, ‘I didn’t see anybody wearing a mask’.”

A day later, a guest at the reception reported feeling ill, according to the publication.

Now a COVID-19 outbreak linked to the reception has infected at least 147 people across Maine and killed three — none of whom attended the event, NBC News reported.

Maine health officials say cases at a jail, care home and church all have been traced to the reception, according to the network.

“What we are dealing with is a giant tube of glitter,” says Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Centers for Disease Control, in a video. “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.”

“That’s what COVID-19 is like,” Shah says in the video, posted Aug. 25. “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.”

Outbreaks linked to the wedding have sickened dozens at the York County Jail and Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Alfred, CNN reported.

And 10 cases have been confirmed at Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, whose pastor officiated at the wedding, Business Insider reported.

Pastor Todd Bell has argued that people should be able to choose whether to wear face masks, according to the publication.

“I’ll tell you what the world wants all the churches to do,” Bell said, Business Insider reported. “They want us to shut down, go home, and let people get used to that just long enough until we can finally stop the advancing of the Gospel.”

The state suspended the license of the Big Moose Inn following the outbreak, but it has since been reinstated, People reported.

“Our hearts go out to the family, those affected by the virus who were at the wedding, and those who have been impacted since then,” said owner Laura Cormier in an earlier statement, NBC News reported.

A man in his 70s from Somerset County died of COVID-19 linked to the outbreak last week, CBS News reported.

On Aug. 21, an 88-year-old woman died in the outbreak, The Washington Post reported. No details on the third death linked to the reception have been released, but all three caught the virus from people who had been at the event or who were infected by someone at it.

“It’s a silent guest at the wedding,” said Dora Anne Mills, former director of the Maine CDC, according to the publication. “It spreads silently, so that by the time you realize that you yourself have spread it, you’ve already done the damage.”

More than 26.9 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 880,000 deaths as of Sept. 6, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 6.2 million confirmed cases with more than 188,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.