Masks and distancing were not consistently maintained at an event, the CDC said.
According to a report released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and, an indoor opening event at a rural Illinois bar in February caused 46 COVID-19 infections, a school closure and a hospitalization of a resident of a long-term care center. Prevention.
The agency took a look at the unidentified business incident, which had a maximum capacity of 100 people. Illinois began opening indoor bars and restaurants to customers in late January, with strict capacity limits and other health protocols.
Although the CDC report said the agency does not count how many people attended the reopening of the bar, which took place around Feb. 3, four people had similar symptoms to COVID-19 on the same day. who attended.
The bar had no outside airflow and no constant use of masks and social distancing was maintained, according to the report.
Two weeks after the reopening, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported a connected outbreak that had serious consequences for others.
The report indicates that 26 patrons and three staff members who attended the opening ceremony hired COVID-19. There have been 17 bar-related secondary cases, including a dozen cases in eight households with children, according to the CDC.
According to the report, none of these cases resulted in hospitalizations.
According to the report, two secondary cases were of people from a school sports team and three cases in a long-term care center (LTCF).
“The transmission associated with the opening event resulted in a school closure that affected 650 children (9,100 people lost-school days) and the hospitalization of an LTCF resident with COVID-19,” it says in the report.
CDC investigators warned that “the number of cases described in this report is likely to be less than the actual number of participants in the bar and secondary cases associated with the event.”
The agency stressed that companies need to meet their masking mandates, gradually expand capacity and adequate ventilation as they reopen in the coming months.