An opening event for an indoor bar in rural Illinois in February was linked to 46 cases of COVID-19, a new study finds, highlighting the dangers that indoor gatherings in places like bars can pose.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation found that the event was linked to 26 COVID-19 cases among customers at the bar opening and three among the bar staff, who then spread the virus to an additional 17 people who were not at the bar opening, also called “secondary cases”.
The study found that in those secondary cases, there were 12 people in eight households with children, two on a school sports team, and three in a nursing home, which may show the ripple effects that one event can have. A school for 650 students was closed as a result of the outbreak, and a resident of a nursing home was hospitalized.
The results serve as a warning as many states are lifting restrictions on bars and other businesses. Illinois recently delayed a further reopening move as hospital admissions increased, but bars and restaurants are currently open with capacity constraints.
“These findings show that opening up environments such as bars, where mask wearing and physical distance are challenging, can increase the risk of community transmission,” the study said.
The CDC has recommended a series of measures to help reduce risk in environments such as bars, including reducing occupancy, placing people at least six feet apart, improving ventilation, and emphasizing seating outside, which is significantly safer.
The virus was introduced into the nursing home through a visitor to the bar event who worked in the nursing home and was asymptomatic, infecting an additional staff member and two residents. None of the four had been vaccinated, although all staff and nursing home residents had previously received the vaccine, the study said, which seems to highlight the problem of the hesitant vaccination.
The study also shows the importance of staying at home when you are sick or when you are diagnosed with COVID-19. According to the study, one of the attendees to the bar event, who was asymptomatic, had been diagnosed with COVID-19 the day before the event. Another four people had symptoms while attending the event and were diagnosed with COVID-19 afterward, the study said.
The bar had a capacity of about 100 people, although it is unclear how many people attended, the study said. Attendees kept no distance from each other, used an “inconsistent” mask and there was “no airflow from outside”.
Levels of coronavirus spread in rural Illinois, unidentified, more than doubling after the event, from about 41 cases per 100,000 people to about 86 cases per 100,000, the study found.
Indoor dining in restaurants and bars have long been seen as risk factors for the spread of COVID-19, as they bring people together in close contact indoors and it is difficult to wear a mask while eating and drinking.
“Similar gatherings involving food or drink, such as on-site dining at restaurants, weddings and nightclubs, have been associated with an increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 and have the potential to become super dispersed events,” the report found. the study. .