Rhode Island Bachelorette Party Linked To Coronavirus Cluster In Massachusetts
BOSTON (CBS) -- Nineteen out of 20 people who rented a house together in Rhode Island for a wedding event in late July later tested positive for coronavirus, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said. Seventeen of the attendees were from Massachusetts, according to the state.
The Boston Globe reported that the event was a bachelorette party. DPH said it talked with Rhode Island health officials about the cluster and notified close contacts of those who attended.
Gov. Charlie Baker brought up the event in a news conference Tuesday when talking about why "unmanaged" social events are the biggest concern for coronavirus spread.
"The big challenge for us is to is to bring that kind of discipline to other kinds of events where people clearly haven't been distancing haven't been wearing masks and a lot of these involve what I would describe as events in which people are familiar with one another and they behave like they're familiar with one another," Baker said. "As difficult as it is for all of us, the hugging, the high fiving, the singing along to the songs, whatever it might be, indoors or outdoors, particularly in close quarter environments is just the wrong thing to be doing when you're trying to work your way through a pandemic."
In Maine, at least 60 people have been sickened from an early August wedding reception in Millinocket. The wedding cluster has also been connected to an outbreak at a jail more than 200 miles away.
