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More than 180 people who attended a religious service on Mother's Day in Northern California were exposed to coronavirus after someone who attended the event last Sunday tested positive for the virus.
Butte County Public Health said in a news release on Friday the infected person received their positive COVID-19 diagnosis the day after the service and is now in home isolation.
“At this time, organizations that hold in-person services or gatherings are putting the health and safety of their congregations, the general public and our local ability to open up at great risk,” Butte County Public Health Director Danette York said in a statement. “We all need to do our part to follow the orders and mitigation efforts so that our Reopen Butte County plan can continue to move forward."
The church in Butte County, north of Sacramento, chose to open its doors despite rules banning gatherings of any size, county public health officials said in a statement Friday.
Gatherings of any size in California have been disallowed by the governor’s “Stay at Home” order since March 19, 2020.
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Butte County is among more than 20 California counties that have been authorized to advance to Stage 2 of the state’s reopening plan. The planned Stage 2 reopening plan for Butte County does not give the authority to allow for large gatherings. Those may be considered in the future as officials move toward a Stage 3 reopening.
Health officials said despite the order, the organization "chose to open its doors" for the Mother's Day service, which resulted in exposing the entire congregation to COVID-19.
"Moving too quickly through the reopening process can cause a major setback and could require us to revert back to more restrictive measures. We implore everyone to follow the state order and our reopening plan to help combat the potential spread of COVID-19," York said.
The decision by the religious congregation came at a "cost of many hours" in addition to a "financial burden" to respond effectively to stop the spread of COVID-19. All of those who attended the service have been notified of their exposure and instructed by BCPH to self-quarantine.
Officials are now working on establishing testing for all those who attended the service.
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"Such decisions can place great risk on the county’s ability to continue opening at a faster rate than the state," the statement said.
Most people with COVID-19 experience fever and cough for up to three weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems can face severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. The vast majority recover.
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As of Sunday, there were 78,725 cases of COVID-19 in California with at least 3,208 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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