A celebration that in principle should have been happy ended with a tragic ending.
In Maine, a wedding violated capacity limits set by the state government.
It is now responsible for
147 people becoming infected with COVID-19,
according to the local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Three of those people have died
, Maine CDC spokesman Robert Long confirmed to our sister network NBC News.
None of them had attended the wedding: they
were infected with coronavirus by other people who did
attend
the celebration.
[WHO estimates that there will be no widely used coronavirus vaccine before mid-2021]
The celebration was attended by
65 people
on August 7 at the Big Moose Inn Cabins and Camp in Millinocket, a 37-acre property that features a restaurant, cabins and campground.
This exceeded by 15 the attendance limit established by the State Government.
The state established that
only 50 people can meet indoors;
100 outdoors.
ICE centers report more than 850 new cases of coronavirus
Aug. 29, 202000: 24
At the end of August, there were 53 people infected.
A week later, 134. And this Friday, the infections related to the wedding already totaled
147
.
These are both direct and indirect (people who did not attend the wedding who were infected by someone who did attend).
The infections affected people between
4 and 78 years old,
according to authorities.
[After the reopening, infections increased, are there possibilities of a new shutdown of the economy?]
One of the victims is
Theresa Dentremont, an 83-year-old woman
who died at Millinocket Regional Hospital on August 21 after contracting the virus.
Detremont
did not attend the wedding.
[Up to 400,000 deaths from COVID-19 by year-end and new economy shutdown in October, according to a baseline projection for the White House]
Her husband, Frank Dentremont, 97, a World War II veteran and East Millinocket's oldest resident, was hospitalized at the same facility a few days later with COVID-19.
Her son, Frank Dentremont Jr., revealed in a Facebook post that her father had recovered.
The couple was isolated at home for much of the pandemic, being part of the high-risk group of people.
Foster Farms plants in California close due to coronavirus outbreaks that left eight dead
Aug. 29, 202000: 40
Contagions more than 200 miles from the wedding
The contagions reached the
York County jail,
located more than 200 miles from where the wedding took place.
At least 72
positive
cases
were reported
after a
prison employee attended the wedding
, according to Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah.
[The Miami Zoo, closed due to COVID-19, reopens to fulfill the wish of a girl with cancer]
"What we are dealing with is a giant tube of glitter. You open a tube in your basement and two weeks later you are in the attic and all you find is glitter and you have no idea how it got there," Shah said Aug. 25. to CNN.
"It is an emblem of how
fast, quiet and efficient
it can be spread."
A Latino is the first to receive proof of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AztraZeneca
Sept.
4, 202001: 12
Located
more than 100 miles
from where the wedding took place, the Maplecrest Housing and Rehabilitation Center in Madison was also touched.
There were at least 19 related cases: eight residents and 11 employees tested positive.
Also, at least
10 people
linked to the Calvario Baptist Church tested positive.
The
pastor of this church
was the one who officiated the wedding.
In a statement sent to CNN Aug. 29, the Big Moose Inn, the location where the wedding was held, said it misinterpreted state rules on social distancing.
"Our interpretation was that we could have a wedding party of more than 50 people, and divide it into two rooms as long as it did not exceed our total capacity or the capacity of a specific room," he said.
With information from NBC News, CNN and The Washington Post