Local Man Survives Shopping Trip While Wearing Mask
GROVE CITY, PA – A local man went shopping for groceries late Wednesday night while wearing a cloth face covering in response to COVID-19 regulations. With his mask on, Warren Throckmorton, a professor at Grove City College, was able to secure numerous items during the 35 minute excursion without injuring his health.
“I know it might surprise some people, but I didn’t lose consciousness even once. My heart rate went up a little in the hot sauce section, but I think that was because of the great selection,” Throckmorton said.
Many shoppers in the local County Market were not wearing masks observed Throckmorton.
“From what Facebook says, I bet they were afraid they would pass out.”
Throckmorton said he was even able to engage in one of his favorite shopping activities with his mask on: Grooving to the background music.
“The store plays some really good tunes. I like to groove while I shop.”
When asked if he planned to try wearing the mask again for other activities, Throckmorton said, “Now that I know I won’t die from wearing a mask, the sky’s the limit.”
VIDEO EXTRA
Throckmorton demonstrates for the skeptical reader just how he was able to shop while wearing his mask without having a major health catastrophe.
The entire trip was uneventful except for the many people who were not wearing masks. We wear masks to protect others in the event we have COVID-19 and don’t know it. If everybody wears a mask, the spread can be slowed.
Buzzfeed News is reporting this morning what I wanted to report last week but couldn’t verify: Prior to V.P. Mike Pence’s visit to First Baptist Church in Dallas on Sunday, there was an outbreak of COVID-19 among the church’s orchestra and choir. I had heard this from two twitter accounts but could not get primary source verification, so I didn’t run with it.
Buzzfeed reporters were able to get that confirmation and went with the story today. The video of the event shows that the choir was singing and the orchestra was playing without masks. The congregation was close together and the only real precautions were taken by Pence. You don’t need to watch the whole video to see what I mean:
Texas is experiencing a scary surge in cases and V. P. Pence should have shown leadership by canceling his appearance and urging Robert Jeffress to hold an online event. Just last week, in neighboring Arkansas, fellow evangelical Governor Asa Hutchinson told the public that the churches who are not experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks are the ones using masks and social distancing. He identified by name nine churches on a naughty list of churches which had not been following guidelines and thus experiencing more cases of COVID-19.
Jeffress’ church was a clinic in how not to do things. Singing and playing wind instruments are effective ways of spreading a virus. The congregation was not spaced properly and it appears not all were wearing masks. Given that some of the orchestra members have been infected (although none of those members were there), it is possible that some of the orchestra members playing that Sunday had been exposed in prior rehearsals.
While it appears that most church leaders are trying to take COVID-19 seriously, I don’t see how it helps to have so-called leaders disregard best practices. I have been tracking church outbreaks for just over a month and it is starting to get a little hard to keep up with. I count 48 churches as of this writing. As the pandemic enlarges in the U.S., it may be difficult to keep a complate count.
In any case, having church as normal can be a super spreading event and leaders need to heed best practices while still caring for their flocks.
Here we are in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic and Donald Trump is going to have another indoor rally, this time in a church. If you get sick, you can’t blame anybody but yourself. In fact, as with the rally in Tulsa, you have to sign a waiver to get in.
The rally is being held in The Dream Center (a mega church), and is put on by Turning Point USA’s Students for Trump. I wonder if parents have to sign for the minors who attend.
In any case, no one is responsible. Another way of saying it is that many people are irresponsible.
Dream City Church must not be too confident that their new ionization technology to kill all the COVID-19 in the place. Hat tip to the Friendly Atheist for this item. Although the church has since taken down the video, this Twitter user has it:
A megachurch is hosting Trump’s rally on Tuesday in Phoenix. These two con-men falsely claim they’ve installed a system which kills 99.9% of COVID-19.
Earlier today, I wrote the company, CleanAirEXP, and asked for the research backing. I haven’t heard anything yet. The company has tried the technology on a surrogate virus, not COVID-19. Other companies have studied this approach and some use it on airplanes. Limited work has been done on COVID-19 in small spaces. According to a presentation posted just today on YouTube, small spaces can be neutralized, but they did not say if a large church space has been tested with people singing and yelling. The salesman for the technology suggested sneezing or coughing next to a person would allow COVID-19 to spread to people in close proximity.
Whatever the capability in this church, none of the people hosting or running the event want to be responsible for any sickness and death that come from it. I hope it obvious that no one should attend this event, even if you support Trump.
As of October 27, 2020, I count 615 religious gatherings associated with at least 7,289 cases of COVID-19 and 99 deaths.
(Update – 10/22/20) Because the number of church outbreaks have been increasing since churches are opening up and failing to use masks and social distancing, it has been become too time consuming to report the outbreaks in the format used below. I have tabulated the cases in October using this chart instead. I hope to continue to keep a tally in this manner and add to the totals above.
Due to inadequate record keeping in many states and secrecy by many churches, I suspect this significantly underestimates the actual numbers. For instance, New Mexico keeps track of location of exposure but doesn’t report outbreaks by source location. Other states, like Ohio, vaguely refer to church outbreaks but decline to name locations or update numbers of cases. In situations where an outbreak is mentioned but the number is not given, I count an outbreak as 2 cases since that is a common and conservative means of defining the term in many states. While these numbers may seem low, most of these outbreaks have occurred after churches have opened back up.
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Regularly updated. Scroll down for section on churches being monitored due to contact tracing. This section is useful for people who want to know if they have attended a church where an infected person has attended.
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On May 22, Donald Trump has threatened to “override” governors who have limited church gatherings. He can’t do that legally and he shouldn’t try. Furthermore, governors should resist the calls of some church leaders to remove restrictions. Going to church is not like shopping or even eating out. With this post, I plan to keep a running list of situations where churches have met together and spread the virus in an outbreak of cases or a church has closed because of a positive case due to a church service.
Some are widely known. In South Korea, much of the spread was due to a new religious movement where a single infected person spread the virus to many people in church. Several days ago, I wrote about the differences between church going and shopping and concluded that many things we do in church make it easy for the virus to spread.
Alabama
Eight members of the Ider Church of God in Ider, AL tested positive for COVID-9. The pastor announced that they all are in quarantine.
First Baptist Church of Tillman’s Corner has shut down after being re-opened for a short time. Several staff members and pastors came down with the virus after reopening. One report said 20 members have been infected. The pastor said the church followed social distancing guidelines.
A family member informed me that a death has resulted in mid-September from a COVID infection contracted from a revival meeting at a Church of Christ in Cleburne County.
Arizona
Gary Marquez, senior pastor at North Swan Baptist Church in Tucson died of COVID-19 July 5th. Others in the congregation have tested positive as well.
The CDC reported this past week that an Arkansas church was involved in the spread of COVID-19 in March. Here is the CDC description:
Among 92 attendees at a rural Arkansas church during March 6–11, 35 (38%) developed laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, and three persons died. Highest attack rates were in persons aged 19–64 years (59%) and ≥65 years (50%). An additional 26 cases linked to the church occurred in the community, including one death.
Services held in a church in North Little Rock in June are associated with 14 cases of COVID-19. The church is First Pentecostal Church and testing is being done to determine if more cases associated with services exist.
The AR Department of Health issued a report card of sorts on churches where COVID-19 infected people have attended. Most churches had one or two people attend with COVID and nothing more came from it because they followed the social distancing and masking guidelines. However, in 9 churches, there are outbreaks associated with not following the guidelines according to Director of the Department of Health Matt. Watch his explanation. Following that, I will list the churches with two of more cases (the red dots).
Churches which have more than two cases associated with attendance at church services (red dots) are:
Central Baptist Church- Central Campus, Jonesboro
St Raphael Catholic Church, Springdale
New Beginnings, De Queen
New Beginnings Church, Springdale
Lifeline Ministry Church of God in Christ, Nashville
Slaty Crossing Free Will Baptist Church, Dardanelle
First Pentecostal Church, North Little Rock (this church is reported above)
Big T Apostolic Church, Corning
Below is an image depicting where the cases of COVID-19 have shown up in AR churches. The red dots are listed above and according to Governor Hutchinson were not following the recommendations for social distancing and use of masks.
At 6:18 in the video briefing above, Gov. Hutchinson explains that 98% of churches are doing a good job but those who are not have helped contribute to cases. He then put this image before the audience.
California
Cases of COVID-19 have been related to Mother’s Day services in two CA churches. In one church, at least nine cases are tied to the church service and in the other, two cases are known to relate to attendance at the church.
In April, a Russian language evangelical church near Sacramento was the center of an outbreak. Seventy cases of COVID-19 were traced back to the church. Small group gatherings may have contributed to the spread of the virus.
A Chula Vista church is being investigated due to an outbreak there. The pastor and church defied mitigation measures, but then three members tested positive for the virus as of June 9.
Two Catholic churches in Dixon, CA have closed because a priest and unknown number of members have contracted the virus. In at least one case, masking guidelines were not followed.
CA Dept of Health reported 10 houses of worship associated with 48 cases in the state to me in an email.
Colorado
Andrew Wommack Ministries: Summer Family Bible Conference has experienced an outbreak. Counting staff and attendees, 41 cases are associated with this religious gathering.
Two churches in Garfield County are associated with a total of 22 cases. A report identified them as Iglesia de Dios Pentacostal and Iglesia Misionera Pentecostes.
Another church in Garfield County, Iglesia Misionera Pentecostes Casa del Pan de Vida, has 4 cases.
Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle opened their church to in person services in April only to close again in early May after just two weeks of services due to reported infections among congregants. The infections occurred despite significant social distancing precautions and low attendance at the services.
In Cartersville, GA as many as 15 cases of COVID-19 were connected to an infected person who attended the Church at Liberty Square in early March. The church then moved to online services. Dr. Melissa Dillman told The Cancer Letter that most deaths from COVID-19 in Floyd County, GA came from that church service.
Killian Hill Baptist Church in Lilburn had 30 cases in July and August, including the pastor and a family member.
From August 6-12. GA reported 8 church related outbreaks. There has been a total of 49 church/temple related outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic with 517 cases, 91 hospitalizations, and 15 deaths according to an email from the Dept of Public Health.
The GA Dept of Health updated these figures on 9/11/2020. At that time, there were a total of 71 church/temple related outbreaks, 638 cases of COVID associated with 103 hospitalizations and 18 deaths.
As of 10/21/20, the GA Dept of Health updated these figures with 94 church/place of worship outbreak investigations involving 748 COVID cases, 110 hospitalizations, and 19 deaths.
Hawaii
An unnamed church on Maui was associated with a cluster of cases in April. No details were given by health officials.
Idaho
A pastor is in ICU, his wife is ill and five members of the church staff are infected with COVID-19 after the church went back to in person services in Coeur d’Alene. The church resisted masking and social distancing and apparently will continue to do so.
A church near Chicago is associated with 10 confirmed cases and another 33 congregants with COVID-like symptoms after a church service in March. The stay at home orders had not been imposed at the time.
The Cathedral of Worship in Quincy is associated with “several positive cases.” Services will not be held this weekend (7/5) at the church.
Gospel Assembly Church in Du Quoin reports “several cases” among members and has suspended services.
Mary, Seat of Wisdom Catholic Church in Park Ridge learned last week (8/25) that three staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Masses have been cancelled for now.
Indiana
New Castle church Turning Point Life Center started services on Mother’s Day with social distancing and simultaneous online services. In June, “several families” reported positive COVID diagnoses. In person services were suspended.
A church camp in Indiana is associated with 40 cases among staff. The camp only had 50 staff.
As of 8/27, LifeChurchX in Waterloo is the scene of an outbreak in two locations. At least the pastor and his wife and an undisclosed number of members are infected.
Kansas
From March 16 to March 22, a Church of God denomination conference was held in Kansas City, KS. As of a April 20 news report, there were 7 deaths and 51 COVID-19 cases associated with attendance at that conference.
The Kansas Department of Health reported 9 cases relating to an out of state church camp.
A Junction City church, Faith Tabernacle, is associated with an outbreak of 22 cases.
The KS Dept of Health “identified clusters associated with religious gatherings at Faith Chapel Assembly of God in Louisburg (21), Faith Tabernacle Apostolic Church in Junction City (7), Hannah’s House in Independence (9) and Plevna Church in Plevna (14).”
Kansas now has a total number of clusters at religious gatherings with associated deaths and cases. There have been 25 clusters associated with 281 cases, 56 hospitalizations, and 13 deaths.
Kentucky
In March, a Hopkins County revival meeting led to infections that spread throughout the state. At least 30 cases and three deaths have been linked to the meeting.
A Nicholasville, KY church is the scene of an outbreak. The church’s pastor was a vocal opponent of stay at home measures but now has postponed services until June 21.
Officials want to hear from people who attended Solid Rock Church in Burning Springs between May 28 and June 3. Several cases are associated with attendance at that church.
The Trinity Holiness Tabernacle Church has been linked to a spike of cases in Perry Co., KY. The county shows 28 cases and surrounding counties are in the single digits. State health authorities have traced an undisclosed number of cases to the church.
From July 19 to July 30, attendance at the Pilgrim Holiness Church in Winchester could have exposed someone to COVID-19. Five cases are associated with that location and a camp in Ohio associated with the church.
A church in Hardin County is the source of an outbreak of 40 cases.
Church on the Rock in Berea hosted meetings where 200 people were exposed to the virus. At least 20 have tested positive. A later report pegs the positive number as in the “dozens.”
Tip Top Church in Magoffin County reports 2 cases, one an infant.
An outbreak has been reported at an unnamed church in MA.
Outbreaks at two churches in New Bedford are reported in this article. A current one involves 9 cases at Iglesia Pentecostal Levantate y Anda and another was in June at La Primer Iglesia de Dois Church. Add 40 more cases to the storefront church in New Bedford.
A church camp near Gladwin reported several cases of COVID-19 which forced the closure of the camp.
A church in Traverse City is associated with 7 cases which showed up in nearby Wexford County.
Minnesota
Two small Catholic churches, one in Maple Lake and the other in Annandale, share clergy who have tested positive for COVID-19. Despite following guidelines, volunteers and others have tested positive and are displaying symptoms of the virus. All three of the clergy who serve both churches are positive or symptomatic.
An unnamed Martin Co. church is associated with 50 cases due to a church service tied to a funeral and then to other services not associated with the funeral.
A teacher contracted the virus at an unnamed church and later died from the disease.
Missouri
In Purdy, MO, a church closed due to two members being infected with COVID-19. Arnhart Baptist Church will be closed on July 5 and July 12.
Open Arms Baptist Church hosted a revival meeting from June 28-July 2. Six cases have been associated with that meeting in Macon, MO. As of July 9, the number of cases has increased to 21.
According to a tweet from the Jackson County, MO Health Department: “There are currently 30 confirmed cases from an exposure at Old Paths Baptist Church between July 19 – July 24.” The church is in Independence, MO.
The Navajo reservation takes in parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. After a March service at Chilchinbeto Church of the Nazarene, 29 people came down with COVID-19; at least 5 have died.
Nevada
There is a report of a Reno County church with 15 cases. The church was not named.
In the two week period ending July 28, 5.2% of exposures to COVID-19 were in houses of worship. This is the only area where exposures increased during that period.
As of October 21, NC will report clusters by location. Since April, religious gatherings have accounted for 76 clusters, 1,040 cases and 13 deaths.
Today, according to WLOS, Macon County Public Health reported seven members of Evangelical Ebenezer Church in Franklin, NC have tested positive for COVID-19. Health officials have identified this as a “cluster” of cases and identified the source as the church.
Faith Community Church in Asheboro is associated with 5 cases. Exposure would have taken place between July 5-19.
In Bennet, Beulah Baptist Church has recorded 30 cases. These may be associated with a youth outing. Exposure would have been likely between July 8 and July 30.
The Hamilton County Health Department announced exposure to positive cases of COVID 19 with participants that attended the Windy Gap Young Life Camp, 120 Coles Cove Road, Weaverville, N.C. between July 24 and July 31.
Cashiers Church of God, a Jackson County church is associated with a cluster of 8 cases. The exposure was between 7/12-14/20.
There are few details here but Ohio’s governor Mike Dewine identified a traveling minister as the source of an outbreak in several churches in Southwest Ohio. A later update associated 91 cases with this outbreak and Tuscarawas County.
Gates of Praise Church in Fairborn, OH (near Dayton) has been identified as being associated with an outbreak. At least 14 cases are associated with the church including one woman who is fighting for her life.
On July 10, Huron CO. health officials reported 12 COVID-19 cases were associated with outbreaks at two churches, Collins United Methodist Church in Collins, and West Hartland United Methodist, Norwalk.
From July 19 to July 30, attendance at the Pilgrim Holiness Church and church camp in Winchester, could have exposed someone to COVID-19. Five cases are associated with those locations.
Christian Life Center in Heath is the site of an outbreak of 32 confirmed cases. Another church in St. Louisville in Licking County has a small outbreak.
Brown County has one small church outbreak. Ohio does not provide specific information on the church or cases.
Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Eastern Oregon is associated with an outbreak of cases in Union County. As of June 19, over 230 members of the congregation have tested positive. This represents over two-thirds of the congregation. This church took direct guidance from Trump’s guidance to open in person church services. The outbreak followed renewed services.
Westmore Church of God in Cleveland has closed due to an outbreak there. The exact number of cases associated isn’t known but according to the church, there are at least 12 cases. The church did not practice social distancing, allowed singing, and didn’t require masks. A later account said dozens were sick and three died.
Covenant Baptist Church in Cleveland has closed services due to an outbreak of 20 cases there. The pastor is among those who have been infected.
Texas
A Calvary Chapel in San Antonio is associated with dozens of cases including the pastor and his wife. Church people may have spread the virus through lack of social distancing due to hugging when the church met for services.
A Catholic church closed services after several members came down with COVID-19. The transmission is unclear but 5 members of an order associated with the church tested positive.
Although not officially an outbreak yet, a Catholic church in Houston was closed because a priest and church staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
A Killeen church has reported 10 cases tied to a singer in a service even though masks were worn and social distancing was practiced. Now the church is having services online.
First Baptist Church of Dallas has an outbreak in their choir and orchestra. This has been kept secret by the church but was reported by Buzzfeed News. This situation is especially noteworthy since the pastor of the church is Robert Jeffress, a key supporter of Donald Trump. It also was occuring the same weekend V.P. Mike Pence visited the church.
Despite the fact that the leadership was aware of the outbreak, the orchestra and choir performed during the Pence visit without masks and in close proximity. Watch:
Another megachurch, Fellowship Church pastored by Ed Young, appears to have an outbreak relating to a church camp and lack of mitigation measures. As reported by Amy Smith at her Watchkeep blog, several parents of youth at the church are reporting that several participants at a recent church camp have tested positive for COVID-19. At a more recent camp session sponsored by Fellowship Church, at least one staff child and a camper have been infected as indicated by this Facebook posting.
A Copperas Cove church sponsored a special meeting and spread the infection due to the fact that the guest speaker was positive. The pastor of the church counted 20 likely to have COVID-19.
A minister who defied mitigation efforts died from the virus. Gerald Glenn of Chesterfield VA vowed to continue preaching but succumbed to the virus back in April. Several of his family members also contracted the virus.
An outbreak at Kidane Mehret Church in Alexandria one of six outbreaks in the city during the pandemic. Anyone at the church between August 14-17 should quarantine. It isn’t clear how many cases have come from these outbreaks. In my count I will apply the conservative number of two each until I hear from the VA Dept of Health.
In Castleton, Massanova Pentecostal Church experienced a significant outbreak in June. Since Virginia doesn’t report church outbreaks separated from other congregate settings, the Rappahannock News obstained internal VA Dept of Health documents via a FOIA request. It appears that 32 cases and 2 deaths resulted.
In Madison Heights, two churches have outbreaks, one with 4 cases and the other with two.
West Virginia
The first COVID-19 death in WV was a member of a Baptist church in Everettville. Due to lack of resources and tracing, it is unclear how many people became infected, but at least five did after attending a service of between 90 and 120 people back in March.
Greystone Baptist Church in Ronceverte (Greenbriar Co.) is now linked to 41 cases with many more people being tested. Two other unnamed churches have also reported outbreaks relating to meeting together. One of those churches may be this Hampshire Co. church which reported 8 cases.
Governor Justice reported on June 13 that 24 new cases statewide had been associated with church attendance. In his update, “The Governor added that the primary factor in these outbreaks was that the organizations had not adequately planned or put in place social distancing or infection control guidelines.” Although details were not released on the fifth church, a state of WV press release said five churches in all have experienced outbreaks due to meeting together.
A sixth church in WV has been identified. The First Baptist Church in Wheeling has been associated with 21 positive cases. Because the church did not close when the outbreak was first identified on June 10, the outbreak has grown.
Thirty cases have been associated with an outbreak at North Charleston Apostolic Church in Charleston.
Although he didn’t name the churches, Gov. Jim Justice said on July 17th that outbreaks had been associated with churches in “Boone, Kanawha, Raleigh and Taylor counties.” Assuming one church per county, that would mean there are 10 churches in West Virginia associated with outbreaks as of 7/19. As of July 29, Grant, Logan, and Mason counties can be added to that list. A high of 137 cases were associated with church outbreak on July 27. This is since July 17. As of 8/7/20, Cabell County can be added to this list.
In Madison, High Point Church reports a few cases but has continued to have church with social distancing.
Wyoming
Three churches are tied to outbreaks in Fremont County. Although investigations are ongoing, as of 8/27, 45 cases are associated with these outbreaks.
Churches Being Monitored
In this section, I am just going to list churches under scrutiny by health officials because someone attended a service and was COVID-19 positive. These churches haven’t experienced an outbreak, but attenders have been exposed due to public meetings (if known, the date of the meeting(s) is provided).
Multiple locations in Arkansas – 6/25/20 – The AR Dept of Health released a list of 44 churches visited by someone who was COVID-19 positive. I did not list this above because the DOH is not sure if the infection came from the church or if there is an outbreak in the church. However, at least 8 of the churches have had more than two cases in their services at some time during the pandemic. According to the DOH:
The information provided in this report represents exposure locations for the full duration of the COVID19 pandemic until 6/25/2020. The information presented was reported to the Arkansas Department of Health during case surveillance and contact tracing efforts as reported by a known COVID-19 case. The church locations are places patients reported visiting during their infectious period, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate they became infected there. As more cases are contacted, the information found in this report will change.
More than forty people tested positive (this report says 100 cases) after attending a Baptist church service in Frankfurt, Germany. According to news reports, the church adhered to social distancing guidelines.
Another church, this time in Bremerhaven, is the site of another outbreak. Over 100 people have been infected with one death associated with a service in early June.
South Korea
The CDC reports eight churches in South Korea where there are clusters of infections (in parentheses): Jusarang Church in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi (9), Elim Church in Gumi City, Gyeongbuk (8). Dong-an Church-PC Cafe in Seoul (20), Manmin Central Church in Seoul (41), Onchun Church in Busan (39),Grace River Church in Seongnam (72), Bucheon Saeng MyeongSu Church in Gyeonggi (48), and Geochang Church in Gyeong-nam (10),
Summary
There are many reasons why a church service is a good environment for spreading the virus (see this post for a discussion). Despite social distancing, some church gatherings have been responsible for the spread of the virus. During the Spanish Flu pandemic churches closed down until it was safe to meet again. We should be patient and follow their example.
I urge readers to leave other cases of church spread in the comments and I will add more as I find them.
Today, on First Things, Rusty Reno apologized for his “foolish and ill-considered remarks about masks and mask wearing.” It is short, so I reproduce it here.
I regret my foolish and ill-considered remarks about masks and mask wearing on Twitter on Tuesday, May 12. Masks are clearly indicated in many situations. I used over-heated rhetoric and false analogies. It was wrong for me to impugn the intentions and motives of others, for which I apologize.
I wrote about his tweets (now deleted along with his entire account) last week. Given the position First Things has in the world of religion, it would be good to hear what tipped the scale in the other direction.
This seems like a good start. Reno also distorted history in his crusade against social distancing measures and it would be a good thing to see corrections made there as well.