The Illinois Department of Public Health identified 29 people who tested positive for COVID-19 or had similar symptoms to COVID-19 within 14 days of opening the indoor bar. All 29 cases were confirmed by COVID-19 antigen or nucleic acid amplification testing, except in one likely symptomatic case that received no testing.
Details were outlined in CDC’s weekly morbidity and mortality report on Monday, CNN reported. The report did not reveal the name or location of the bar.
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The report said bar attendees came into close contact with at least 71 more people. Of the 37 close contacts tested by COVID-19, 17 tested positive 14 days after contact.
Two of the secondary cases of COVID-19 were sports students in close contact with a bar attendant with COVID-19 who attended indoor sports practices and face-to-face classes. The school, with 650 children, closed two weeks from Feb. 18 after 13 staff members were unable to work due to isolation, quarantine or their quarantined child.
Three of the secondary cases of COVID-19 were residents in long-term care centers in close contact with a bar attendant who worked as a certified nursing assistant. The nurse tested positive for COVID-19 four days after the bar opened. One person who contracted one of these secondary cases of COVID-19 was hospitalized 14 days after the positive test result. However, the person was discharged the same day.
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Two weeks after the event, the average daily incidence of seven-day COVID-19 in the county doubled to at least 86 cases per 100,000 people, according to the report.
“Bars may play a role in the community outreach of COVID-19 due to the limited use of masks while eating or drinking and the lack of constant physical distancing,” the authors wrote in the report. “These findings show that SARS-CoV transmission originating in a company such as a bar not only affects bar owners and employees, but can also affect an entire community.”
The bar event was held indoors with no outside airflow. Attendees cited inconsistent use of the mask and neglect of the six-foot physical distance guidelines. Although the total number of people who attended the event is unknown, the bar can accommodate about 100 people, according to the report.
The high percentage of symptomatic people linked to the event, 82.6%, as well as the reluctance of many people to disclose contacts suggest that the actual case count was higher than found, according to the CDC report. .
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“As community businesses begin to open up, these findings underscore the importance of businesses and individuals adhering to public health prevention and mitigation guidelines to reduce additional community transmission, including isolation after receiving a diagnosis of COVID-19 and while experiencing symptoms similar to COVID-19, even as vaccination efforts expand, ”the authors wrote in the report.
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