The Illinois Department of Public Health has identified 29 individuals who, within 14 days of opening the inner bar, tested positive for COVID-19 or had symptoms of COVID-19. All 29 cases were confirmed by COVID-19 antigen or nucleic acid amplification tests, except one probable symptomatic case that was not tested.
The details were set out Monday in the CDC’s weekly report on morbidity and mortality. The report did not disclose the name or location of the bar.
The report did say that pub goers came into close contact with at least 71 other people. Of the 37 close contacts tested for COVID-19, 17 tested positive within 14 days of contact.
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Two of the secondary COVID-19 cases were student-athletes in close contact of a bartender with COVID-19 attending indoor sports exercises and personal classes. The school, with 650 children, closed for two weeks from 18 February after 13 staff members could not work due to isolation, quarantine or their child in quarantine.
Three of the COVID-19 secondary cases were long-term care residents in close contact with a bartender who worked as a certified nursing assistant. The nurse tested positive for COVID-19 four days after the bar opened. One person who contracted one of these secondary COVID-19 cases was admitted to hospital within 14 days of the positive test result. However, the person was discharged the same day.
Two weeks after the event, the seven-day daily average COVID-19 incidence in the country more than doubled to at least 86 cases per 100,000 people, according to the report.
“Bars may play a role in the spread of COVID-19 in the community due to limited mask use during eating or drinking and a lack of constant physical distance,” the authors wrote in the report. “These findings show that SARS-CoV transfer from a business such as a bar can not only affect the customers and employees of the bar, but also affect an entire community.”
The bar event was held indoors with no airflow from outside. Participants cited inconsistent use of mask and disregard for the six-foot physical distance guidelines. Although the total number of people who attended the event is unknown, the bar can accommodate about 100 people, the report said.
The high percentage of symptomatic people linked to the event, 82.6%, as well as the unwillingness of many people to disclose contacts, indicates that the actual number of cases was higher than found, according to the CDC report.
‘As community enterprises begin to reopen, these findings underscore the importance of enterprises and individuals adhering to public health prevention and mitigation guidelines to reduce additional community transmission, including isolation after receiving a COVID-19 diagnosis and while they experience COVID-19-like symptoms. “Even if the vaccination efforts are expanded,” the authors wrote in the report.
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