24 COVID deaths possibly tied to Eastern WA superspreader wedding
It’s been five weeks since a couple said “I do” in front of 300 family and friends in Grant County in violation of a state coronavirus order.
Now, public health officials say the wedding is directly linked to one COVID-related death and suspected of leading to the deaths of 23 others.
All who died were in long-term care facilities and never attended the Nov. 7 ceremony and reception.
The wedding — held inside an airplane hangar near Ritzville — turned into a coronavirus superspreader event leading to outbreaks at two care centers and a school district.
Some of the wedding guests are on staff at those long-term care centers and later tested positive for COVID-19.
Initially health officials said they could not directly link the wedding to the deaths. But in a lengthy statement issued Thursday evening, they confirmed that one person’s death at an Ephrata facility is connected to a wedding guest.
The health district, based in Moses Lake, declined to name that care home “because there is only one COVID-19 case linked to this facility and (wedding) event.”
The district has identified other locations, including Lake Ridge Center with 15 deaths and Columbia Crest Center with eight deaths. Each facility has three more deaths pending a review of the death certificates to confirm they were COVID related.
The residents who died had underlying conditions putting them at higher risk for severe complications due to a COVID-19 infection, said the district.
Two each were in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and four in their 90s.
The outbreaks at those two Moses Lake facilities led to a total 33 staff and 92 residents testing positive for the virus.
Three staff members diagnosed with COVID admitted attending the wedding and working while contagious before they knew they were ill.
The health district said those three employees care for all residents at their long-term care facility, “so it will not be known which individual cases or deaths are tied to the staff.”
But the outbreaks happened at the two residential homes after the wedding, which was north of the Tri-Cities between Ritzville and Moses Lake.
Refusing to cooperate
At the time, wedding receptions were limited by state order to just 30 guests.
A number of believed wedding guests have refused to cooperate with public health officials. They reportedly denied being at the event or would not answer calls from investigators doing contact tracing on the attendees.
At Columbia Crest Center, staff diagnosed with COVID who were interviewed by health officials did not admit attending the wedding. The district said that’s why it cannot make the conclusive link at that facility.
“To date, nearly 50 Grant County residents diagnosed with COVID-19 self-identified as attending the large wedding in Ritzville in November. There have also been 11 confirmed cases in two additional counties in (Washington) state,” said the health district’s statement.
“Through our investigations we know there were additional probable cases who were symptomatic close contacts of confirmed cases who chose not to go in for testing,” the statement continued.
The Benton Franklin Health District previously reported that the wedding is responsible for at least four Tri-Cities area COVID cases.
On Wednesday the Tri-Cities health district said in a Facebook post that it had one death reassigned to Grant County.
The post did not give more details on the person or their connection to Grant County, including whether they died after being transferred to a Tri-Cities hospital.
Grant County health officials cautioned that people should not assume all recent deaths at long-term care homes are associated with guests at the rural wedding.
McKay Healthcare and Rehab Center in Soap Lake had an outbreak, but it began several weeks before the ceremony.
Grant County’s total positive case count is 5,714, with 18 hospitalized as of Thursday evening. The new confirmed cases include 396 over four days this week.
“Our most vulnerable community members — elderly, immunocompromised, and those with chronic conditions — are especially at risk of complications due to a COVID-19 infection and we must continue to take measures to protect them from this disease,” the health district said.
“The best way to do that is by staying home as much as possible,” the statement continued. “Your choice to gather with those outside your household could lead to additional cases of COVID-19 and even death. Please protect those you love, by staying home.”
The county has had 65 COVID-related deaths to date with 12 more pending death certificate review. One recent death — a female Electric City resident in her 70s — was not associated with a long-term care home.
The health district says it delays the announcement of coronavirus-associated deaths to give families time to notify their loved ones.
“GCHD staff and I wish to extend our most sincere condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones and to our communities affected by these tragic deaths of our most vulnerable community members,” Dr. Alexander Brzezny, Grant County health officer, said in the news release.
“We also extend our encouragement and sympathies to the many dedicated healthcare staff and community members who have joined us on this fight against our common enemy.”
The Grant County statement also referred to an outbreak in the Moses Lake School District, saying 11 employees admitted being wedding guests. That resulted in one additional known school district staff being infected.
The school district’s website shows 70 confirmed cases in staff and 83 in students. In the last two weeks, 17 staff and 32 students tested positive.
There were an additional 14 known secondary cases in Grant County, which include transmission settings of households and social gatherings.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 12:53 PM.