Sept 15 (Reuters) - Seven deaths related to COVID-19 have
been tied to an Aug. 7 wedding and celebration that took place
in the vacation town of Millinocket in central Maine, local
media reported on Tuesday.
The state previously linked five deaths to the
super-spreading event, with a sixth reported on Tuesday and a
seventh expected to be included in the official case count on
Wednesday, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said all
of the deaths were linked to secondary spread of the disease and
six of them occurred at Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living
Center, a nursing home in Madison, roughly 100 miles southwest
of heavily forested Millinocket.
"None of those individuals attended the wedding or the
reception itself," Dr. Nirav Shah, Maine's CDC director, said.
Outbreaks traced to the wedding have now infected 176 people
statewide, including some sickened at the York County Jail in
Alfred, about 220 miles southwest of Millinocket, the Press
Herald reported.
"The trends we've seen over the last two weeks tell us
things are getting worse or not getting better," Shah said.
"COVID-19 is not on the other side of the fence. It's in our
yards."
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by David
Gregorio)
© 2025 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.