A person who had attended service at Mother's Day church in Butte County in California has tested positive for COVID-19. The result was announced day after the person attended the church service. The church service was attended by 180 people, raising questions about their health now.
The Butte County health officials have issued strict warning against flouting the social distancing norms and said people should not move quickly through the reopening process. According to the rules, large gatherings are still not allowed even in areas where the process of reopening has started.
Officials have slammed the church organizers for flouting the rules and opening the church for service allowing the large gathering and exposing them to COVID-19. The Butte County officials released a statement: "This decision comes at a cost of many hours and a financial burden to respond effectively to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19."
The release also said that health officials will notify all the attendees of the service on that day to self-quarantine. All attendees of the service will also made to go through testing. Healthcare partners will help in this process of testing.
Reverting back to more restrictive measures?
Such gatherings flouting the rules put the lives of general public and our local ability to open up at great risk, said Danette York, county public health director. Flouting rules will result in reverting back to more restrictive measures, said York and asked people to follow stay-at-home order.
Despite orders, a few churches had challenged the lockdown rules and held services as usual. After noticing this, a federal judge had said that California Governor Gavin Newsom had the right to ban church assemblies following the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile if more people attending the church service are found to be positive for COVID-19, then the conditions laid out for additional businesses to reopen also might be affected.
In another shocking news, Butte County's public officer said that he will resign from his post and will not be coming to duty from July 10. He said that his decision is not the result of any disagreement.
