Mendocino officials say Mother’s Day church service is source of coronavirus outbreak
Mendocino County health officials have identified a livestreamed Mother’s Day church service as the source of a coronavirus outbreak responsible for a third of local infections.
In a news release, county officials said that at least nine people have contracted COVID-19 in connection with a service at the Assembly of God Church in Redwood Valley.
The service, which included multiple people, some of whom sang for the livestream, involved an elderly Ukiah Valley man who was found to be infected with the coronavirus.
The man was a close contact with two Lake County residents, who also tested positive as of last week. One of these patients was hospitalized shortly after testing.
Mendocino health officials said at the time that it was imperative that “organizations where work groups engage in live-streaming of events” are “implementing the required safety measures and mitigating additional risk associated with singing like utilizing a (Plexiglas) screen between singers in the same venue, proper ventilation, distancing greater than six feet and ensuring singers are not positioned face-to-face.”
Officials from both Lake and Mendocino counties reached out to anyone who may have been in contact with the three patients and other participants in the Mother’s Day service.
On Friday, officials had identified six new patients connected to the service, bringing the total infection count for Mendocino County from 15 to 21.
By Sunday, three of these people were being treated in Mendocino County hospitals. The others were ordered to remain in isolation.
The county health department tested 337 people during the investigation into the outbreak at the church, according to a Mendocino County news release. The Redwood Valley church’s website is currently unreachable.
An in-person Mother’s Day service in Buttle County also exposed 180 people in attendance to a patient with coronavirus. Butte County officials said Friday that two cases have been connected to that service amid a spike in coronavirus numbers.
“Butte County has recently experienced an increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases with a majority of these cases identified in the Oroville area,” county officials said in a news release. “With increased capacity for testing and more activities and businesses reopening, Butte County Public Health expected to see an increase in cases.”
