The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit is providing a detailed look at how easily COVID-19 cases in a local church spread across the municipality.
On Tuesday afternoon, the health unit provided a video and illustrated graphic that explained how an outbreak at Blenheim’s Word of Life Church in October led to 40 people testing positive for COVID-19 in 24 households, two declared outbreaks, and three hospitalizations in Chatham-Kent.
According to Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby, a member or members of the church visited family members outside of Chatham-Kent, not knowing that they had acquired COVID-19 as a result of the visit. From there, 21 people tested positive within the church. The virus then spread through a variety of sources, including a local blood donor clinic. As a result, 500 people were instructed at some point to isolate.
Via CK Public Health
Colby stressed that the graphic was not meant to place the blame on anyone, but rather show how easily the virus can spread.
"It has to start somewhere," said Colby. "We were lucky, with a lot of effort, we were able to keep our numbers down to only 40 positives with this outbreak."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZjGlyO5srg
As of Tuesday afternoon, there are 27 active cases in Chatham-Kent, 482 cases overall, three workplace outbreaks and one outbreak at school. There's also a confirmed staff case reported at Chatham Kent Secondary School.