7 Coronavirus Deaths From Maine Super-Spreader Wedding Reception; None Of The Victims Attended Event

Maine public health officials are linking at least seven COVID-19 deaths in the state to a wedding reception party held last month that was touted as a super-spreader event after it sparked an outbreak. None of the seven victims reportedly attended the wedding.

At least 175 confirmed cases of the coronavirus have so far been traced back to the Aug. 7 reception party held at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) said in a statement Tuesday.

Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah had said last month that the event in question had 65 guests, whereas the state’s virus guideline mandates no more than 50 people at a gathering. The agency spokesperson Robert Long told CBS News, citing the findings of their investigation, that “multiple potential points of transmission” were traced to the reception party.

Shah told the Washington Post the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison accounted for six among a total of seven deaths. An employee of the facility who lives in the same household reportedly attended the party. It was not clear how many residents were infected in the facility.

A York County Jail employee was also said to have attended the party, causing an outbreak in the facility which resulted in a total of confirmed 73 cases as of Sept. 9, which include 46 inmates, 19 staffers and seven of their household members, CBS News reported.

The state has recorded a sharp 16% increase this week from an average of 30 cases per day two weeks earlier. The total number of cases in Maine, as of Thursday, is 4,941, with 138 deaths, with at least 23 new cases being reported Sept. 16 alone.

Maine CDC is currently investigating whether an outbreak in the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford that sickened 10 people occurred after pastor Todd Bell officiated the August wedding. The church said in a statement Tuesday that a few of their members were present at the wedding and that the church is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus, Washington Post reported.

“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,” CBS News quoted Shah as saying.