Maine health officials are investigating a coronavirus outbreak at a church that held a fellowship rally earlier this month.
The state’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday that 17 cases of the coronavirus were linked to Brooks Pentecostal Church in Waldo County.
By Monday that number had climbed to 32, according to the Portland Press Herald.
The Maine CDC said in a press release on Saturday that the church in Brooks, a town of about 1,100 people 40 miles northeast of Augusta, held a fellowship rally between Oct. 2 and Oct. 4.
Officials advised that anyone who attended the event or spent any time at the church’s affiliated school, Lighthouse Christian Academy, should monitor for symptoms of Covid-19, and if they show symptoms contact a doctor.
Efforts to reach the state health agency and the church were not immediately successful on Tuesday morning.
Waldo County has had 124 cumulative cases of coronavirus and 14 deaths, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Statewide, there have been just under 6,000 cases and 146 deaths.
This isn’t the first time a coronavirus outbreak has been linked to a church in Maine. At least 10 cases have been tied to Calvary Baptist Church after its pastor officiated an indoor wedding that has been labeled as a superspreader event that caused over a hundred infections and at least eight deaths.
