A woman from Portland, Oregon has said 21 out of 29 people—13 of whom were vaccinated—who attended a family reunion have tested positive for COVID-19.
Niki Marienburg told KGW-TV, a Portland-based television news station, that family members from across the country attended the reunion at Sunriver Resort, a luxury resort in Central Oregon, for 10 days in June. She said most of her family was vaccinated, and no one wore masks throughout the reunion.
She told the station her family “had a great time” after not being able to see each other due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But two days after the reunion, one of Marienburg’s cousin texted family members that she felt sick, before testing positive for COVID-19, KGW reported.
“It sort of snowballed and we got text messages from other people in the family who actually tested positive,” Marienburg told the news station. “It was like one of those stories you hear on the news—like, it just seemed not real. It didn’t seem true.”
Marienburg told the station that people need to be taking the virus seriously.
“People need to be masking up and people need to take our safety seriously,” she said.
Newsweek reached out to Marienburg for further comment. This story will be updated with any response.
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Across the country, COVID-19 cases continue to rise due to the Delta variant, which is as transmissible as Chickenpox, according to the CDC. Cases in Oregon have steadily increased over the past month. 999 new cases were reported Friday, compared to 194 a month earlier on June 30, according to data from John Hopkins University.
The state has a relatively high vaccination rate, according to the data. More than 57 percent of the population is fully vaccinated against the virus, higher than that of the nation overall, which is just over 50 percent.
Vaccinated people contracting the virus, known as breakthrough cases, are expected, but not common, according to the CDC. The vaccine remains effective, and may make illness less severe for people who do become infected.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19,” the CDC’s website reads.
Symptomatic breakthrough infections appear to be happening among .0098 percent of fully vaccinated people, according to an ABC News story of cases reported by the CDC.