The Illinois Department of Public Health identified 29 individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 or had symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 within 14 days after the indoor bar opening event. All 29 cases were confirmed by the COVID-19 antigen or nucleic acid amplification tests, except for one probable symptomatic case that did not receive the test.
The details were described in the CDC’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report on Monday. The report did not disclose the name or location of the bar.
The report said that bar-goers had close contact with at least 71 other people. Of the 37 nearby contacts tested for COVID-19, 17 tested positive within 14 days of contact.
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Two of the secondary cases of COVID-19 were student-athletes in close contact with a bar-goer with COVID-19 who attended indoor sports and face-to-face classes. The school, with 650 children, closed for two weeks from February 18, after 13 employees were unable to work due to isolation, quarantine or their children in quarantine.
Three of the secondary cases of COVID-19 were residents of long-term institutions in close contact with a bartender who worked as a certified nursing assistant. The nurse tested positive for COVID-19 four days after the bar opening event. A person who contracted one of these secondary cases of COVID-19 was hospitalized within 14 days after the positive test result. However, the person was discharged the same day.
Two weeks after the event, the average daily incidence of COVID-19 over seven days in the county more than doubled to at least 86 cases per 100,000 people, according to the report.
“Bars can play a role in the spread of COVID-19 by the community due to limited use of a mask when eating or drinking and a lack of consistent physical distance,” the authors wrote in the report. “These findings show that SARS-CoV transmission originating in a business such as a bar not only affects customers and employees of the bar, but it can also affect an entire community.”
The bar event was held in a closed environment, with no external air flow. Participants cited the inconsistent use of the mask and disregard for the physical distance guidelines of 1.80 m. Although the total number of people who attended the event is unknown, the bar can accommodate about 100 people, the report said.
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.
“As community businesses begin to reopen, these findings underscore the importance of companies and individuals adhering to public health prevention and mitigation guidelines to reduce additional transmission from the community, including isolation after receiving a COVID-19 diagnosis. and while experiencing symptoms similar to those of COVID-19, even with the expansion of vaccination efforts, “wrote the authors in the report.
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