Masks and distance have not been consistently maintained at an event, the CDC said.
An opening event at a bar in rural Illinois in February led to 46 COVID-19 infections, the closure of a school and the hospitalization of a resident of a long-term care facility, according to a report released Monday. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency took a look at the incident at the unidentified company, which had a maximum capacity of 100 people. Illinois began reopening in-house bars and restaurants to customers in late January, with strict capacity limits and other health protocols.
Although the CDC report says that the agency does not have a count of how many people attended the bar’s reopening, which occurred around February 3, four people experienced symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 on the same day they attended.
The bar had no external airflow, and consistent mask use and social detachment were not 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 said that 26 customers and three team members who attended the opening event hired COVID-19. There were 17 secondary cases linked to the bar, including a dozen cases in eight families with children, according to the CDC.
None of these cases resulted in hospitalizations, according to the report.
Two secondary cases were of individuals from a school sports team and three cases occurred in a long-term institution (ILPI), according to the report.
“The transmission associated with the opening event resulted in the closure of a school, affecting 650 children (9,100 people-days lost from school) and the hospitalization of an ILPI resident with COVID-19,” the report said.
The CDC researchers warned that “the number of cases described in this report is likely to be less than the actual number of bargoers and secondary cases associated with the event.”
The agency emphasized that companies need to adhere to masked mandates, gradual expansions of capacity and adequate ventilation as they reopen in the coming months.