At least five cases of the virus has been confirmed
The pastor of Calvary Baptist Church officiated a wedding reception in Millinocket and it’s now being linked to more than 100 confirmed cases. The Maine CDC is currently connecting this incident to other outbreaks in York and Penobscot counties.
At least five people have been infected from the Sanford incident and many others have been exposed to it, the Maine CDC stated on Saturday.
The pastor’s tweet
The church’s pastor Todd Bell tweeted on August 6th saying he was going to northern Maine for a wedding. The wedding was held the next day and the reception was at Millinocket, violating state guidelines for large gatherings and has now been linked to more than 100 confirmed cases, and one death.
The Press Herald has tried to get in touch with bell to confirm that he officiated the wedding, but has been unsuccessful so far. The state public health officials are still on the case of connecting the infected to the wedding, but they will not be identifying the individuals.
Bell is also a licensed pilot and operates Wings With the Word, which is a mission of the church to spread the gospel and build churches in remote areas of the state. One step of the outreach is addressing the people via radio every day. In the radio segment that aired on August 6th, the wedding that Bell was going to officiate was of a couple he’d known since birth, and he was to be present at the rehearsal and perform the wedding the following day.
The York county jail is also seeing a major rise in cases, and dozens have already been linked to the wedding reception. People affiliated with the church and those who attended the wedding were told to watch out for symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, fatigue or body aches.
(Cover: Getty)