At a health press conference on Tuesday, medical professionals from Adam and Grant counties revealed more positive COVID-19 cases, tallying about 40 people inflicted by the said virus. According to them, the surging numbers originated from a private wedding held near Ritzville, Washington, with attendees amounting to almost 300 individuals present together at the occasion. Moreover, Adam County disclosed four additional new coronavirus cases coming from their end.
Adams County Health Department community director Karen Potts expressed her dismay at the situation. According to Potts, the wedding event is a perfect example of something everyone wants to see the least from happening in the middle of the ongoing pandemic crisis across the nation.
Potts also disclosed the details regarding the previously mentioned proceeding. The wedding took place on November 7, celebrated indoors in one of Adam County’s agricultural infrastructures. According to her, several of the wedding guests she interrogated revealed that the reception happened like an average event without the pandemic. The celebration included dancing sessions, drinks, and food. Additionally, the gathering lasted for about five to six hours maximum.
Moreover, Potts noted that there were available masks at the venue for guests to take and wear around. However, not every guest present at the wedding reception adhered to put one on. According to accounts, the wedding etiquettes before the celebration reportedly consisted of no more than 30 people present. Due to what happened, Washington state prohibits indoor wedding gatherings regardless of the number of people invited to the parties.
Grant County health officers requested the people who came to the wedding to get tested and impose self-quarantine measures for 14 days, lasting until November 21, Saturday. The medical experts revealed the invocation through a Facebook post. Moreover, the post intends to inform those wedding attendees who came from across and within the country. According to officials, they put up the announcement online to reach as many of the 300 guests involved.
On Sunday, Governor Jay Inslee responded to the recent rise of Washington’s coronavirus cases by mandating restaurants and diners to ban indoor dining in the meantime. Additionally, Inslee suggested to limit up to five or fewer people in a party of outdoor dining services. Indoor fitness centers and gyms do not get excluded from the ordinance, also recommending them to close their doors from customers. The rest also applies to museums, movie theaters, and bowling alleys.
Additionally, indoor meetings involving people outside your family homes become banned, except for those who got negative test results for COVID-19 and spent at least 14 days of self-quarantine before going on a specific home event.
According to Inslee, out of the past century’s Washington health history, November 15 of this year is the riskiest public health day. She also further stressed that a pandemic crisis is still ongoing across the state. If left untamed, the country would suffer overwhelming consequences such as overburdened hospitals and morgues, preventing non-coronavirus patients from getting the proper care and attention they needed from medical health professionals across the nation.
Moreover, Inslee clarifies that the new COVID-19 laws would last for about a month, hoping to see improvements with the state’s coronavirus cases to limit these restrictions little by little as the days progress.
Meanwhile, Grant County health officials encourage wedding planners to implement strict logbooks for wedding attendees and keep the records for a minimum of two weeks. Through this method, it would become uncomplicated to contact involved individuals should a surge in cases that may occur once again.
It is not the first time a COVID-19 instigating occurrence happened in the country. Last August of this year, more than 170 coronavirus cases and seven deaths resulted from a rural Maine wedding. Additionally, a wedding celebration in one of Long Island’s country clubs consisting of 91 guests emerged half of the positive coronavirus infections. The event leads to almost 300 people doing self-quarantine measures as the wedding took place in October of this year.