IT HAS BEEN THIS WAY FROM THE
VERY BEGINNING.
CONTACT TRACING HAS TOLD US SO.
WELL, VIOLA HORTON, ATTENDED A
RURAL CHURCH SERVICE AT A
BAPTIST CONGREGATION IN RURAL
MARION COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA AT
MARCH 15th.
HER SISTER WAS THE REVEREND AT
THE CHURCH AND CELEBRATING HER
ANNIVERSARY AS THE LEADER OF
THAT CHURCH.
THAT GATHERING AT THAT ONE
CHURCH IN WEST VIRGINIA, THAT
ONE DAY, IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE
INFECTED 30% OF THE PEOPLE WHO
WERE IN ATTENDANCE.
FIVE PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THAT
CHURCH CELEBRATION THAT ONE DAY
WERE HOSPITALIZED BY THE END OF
THE FIRST WEEK AFTER THAT
SERVICE.
MS. HORTON WAS DEAD WITHIN TWO
WEEKS OF THAT SERVICE, AND SHE
WAS THE FIRST PERSON IN WEST
VIRGINIA WHO IS KNOWN TO HAVE
DIED FROM CORONAVIRUS.
LAST MONTH IN KENTUCKY, HEALTH
OFFICIALS TRACED MORE THAN 30
CORONAVIRUS CASES AND THREE
DEATHS, AND COMMUNITY SPREAD OF
THE DISEASE ACROSS MULTIPLE
COUNTIES, INCLUDING INTO A
KENTUCKY MEAT PACKING PLANT,
THEY TRACED ALL OF THOSE CASES
BACK TO A SINGLE CHURCH REVIVAL
MEETING, IN HOPKINS COUNTY,
KENTUCKY.
IN CALIFORNIA, RIGHT NOW, A
SINGLE CHURCH SERVICE ON
MOTHER’S DAY IS BEING BLAMED FOR
NEW CLUSTERS OF THE VIRUS IN
LAKE COUNTY AND MENDOCINO
COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
IN BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,
RIGHT NOW, THEY ARE TRYING TO
TRACK DOWN 180 PEOPLE WHO
ATTENDED A CONGREGATE CHURCH
SERVICE IN PERSON IN DEFIANCE OF
THE PUBLIC HEALTH ORDER IN THAT
STATES, THAT PROHIBITED SUCH
GATHERINGS.
PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS ARE
TRYING TO FIND EVERYBODY WHO
WENT TO THAT CHURCH SERVICE,
BECAUSE THEY LEARNED THAT AT
LEAST ONE PERSON AT THAT SERVICE
TESTED POSITIVE THE DAY AFTER
THAT SERVICE, AND SO THEY’RE NOW
TRYING TO CONTACT TRACE THE
WHOLE CONGREGATION, BECAUSE AT
THAT EVENT, IT SEEMS LIKE THEY
WERE ALL EXPOSED.
LAST MONTH, ONE OF THE FIRST CDC
FORMAL REPORTS, FIRST REPORT
TRACING A LARGE CLUSTER OF CASES
IN CHICAGO, IDENTIFIED ONE
CHURCH SERVICE ON ONE DAY, AS
ONE OF THE PLACES WHERE
DOCUMENTED NEW INFECTIONS TOOK
PLACE.
THE NEW ONE THAT CAME OUT FROM
CDC THIS WEEK TRACES ANOTHER
CLUSTER TO A CHURCH IN RURAL
ARKANSAS, WHERE THE PASTOR AND
HIS WIFE DID NOT KNOW THAT THEY
WERE INFECTED BUT THEY WERE, AND
OVER THE COURSE OF ONE WEEK,
THEY INFECTED 38% OF THEIR
CONGREGATION, AND SO FAR, THREE
PEOPLE HAVE DIED.
I WAS ALSO SURPRISED TO LEARN
THIS TODAY ABOUT WHAT NOW COUNTS
AS THE WORST OUTBREAK IN THE
COUNTRY, THE OUTBREAK AT THE
NAVAJO NATION, WHICH STANS PARTS
OF THREE DIFFERENT STATES, A
LITTLE BIT OF UTAH, ALSO NEW
MEXICO, AND ARIZONA, AND THE
ARIZONA REPUBLIC DID GREAT WORK
TODAY TEASING OUT OF THE DATA
GEOGRAPHICCALLY SPECIFIC
INFORMATION ABOUT THAT OUTBREAK
ON THE NAVAJO NATION TO TRY TO
FIGURE OUT HOW BAD IT IS THERE,
BUT HOW BAD IT IS COMPARED WITH
OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AND
WHAT THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC WAS
ABLE TO FIND IS THAT IN THE
NORTHERN, PARTICULARLY ISOLATED
PART, OF THE NAVAJO NATION, THE
NUMBER OF CASES PER POPULATION
IN SPECIFIC REGIONS THERE IS
HIGHER THAN EVEN IN THE
WORST-HIT ZIP CODES IN NEW YORK
CITY.
AND NAVAJO HEALTH OFFICIALS ALSO
SAY THAT THAT WORST-HIT REGION
WITHIN NAVAJO NATION IS WHERE
THEY THINK THE NAVAJO NATION
OUTBREAK BEGAN, AND THEY HAVE
TRACED THE BEGINNING OF THE
NAVAJO NATION OUTBREAK, WHICH
AGAIN IS THE WORST ONE IN THE
COUNTRY, THEY HAVE TRACED IT
BACK TO A SPECIFIC CHURCH
REVIVAL MEETING, ON A SPECIFIC
DAY, IN EARLY MARCH, IN THE
NAVAJO NATION.
THAT’S WHERE THEY BELIEVE IT
TOOK HOLD.
AND NOW AGAIN, THAT IS THE WORST
OUTBREAK IN AMERICA, WORST PER
CAPITA, THAN THE HARDEST-HIT ZIP
CODES IN NEW YORK CITY.
SO WHEN THE PRESIDENT TODAY
POUNDED HIS CHEST A LITTLE BIT
AND ANNOUNCED THAT HE WILL
INSIST, AS PRESIDENT, THAT ALL
CHURCH SERVICES BE HELD IN
PERSON, THIS WEEKEND, ALL OVER
THE COUNTRY, AND HE WILL SOMEHOW
MAGICALLY OVERRIDE ANY STATE
RULE, THAT WOULD SEEK TO
PROHIBIT THAT KIND OF A
GATHERING, I MEAN THE PRESIDENT,
YOU KNOW, KNOWS WHAT HE’S
PLAYING WITH IN DOING THAT.
THIS HAS BEEN AN OUTLOUD
DOCUMENTED UP FRONT PART OF OUR
EXPERIENCE IN THIS EPIDEMIC FROM
THE VERY BEGINNING.
AND NO, THE PRESIDENT DOES NOT
HAVE THE POWER TO OVERRULE STATE
PUBLIC HEALTH RULES AND DEMAND
THAT ALL CHURCHES HOLD IN PERSON
SERVICES BUT HIM TRYING TO
CREATE THE IMPRESSION THAT HE
HAS THAT POWER WILL HAVE SOME OF
THAT EFFECT ANYWAY.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE WILL SEE
WHAT THE PRESIDENT HAS WROUGHT
FOR THIS WEEKEND IN AMERICA, IN
THE MIDDLE OF THE WORST EPIDEMIC
ON EARTH.
AND THEN IN, WHAT, THREE WEEKS
OR SO, IN SOME PLACES, IF WE’RE
LUCKY, WE WILL BE ABLE TO DO THE
CONTACT TRACING FOR WHAT HAPPENS
THIS WEEKEND.
AND ONCE THEY’VE DONE THE
CONTACT TRACING, PRESUMABLY WE
WILL BE ABLE TO GIVE HIM ALL THE
CREDIT HE DESERVES FOR WHAT WILL
HAPPEN THIS WEEKEND BECAUSE WE
KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT CHURCH
SERVICES HELD IN THE OPEN IN
CONGREGATE THIS WEEKEND, WE KNOW
WHAT WILL HAPPEN BECAUSE WE’RE
ALREADY LIVING THROUGH IT AT A
SMALLER SCALE FROM EARLIER ON IN
THIS EPIDEMIC IN AMERICA, WHEN
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES IN THE
COMMUNITY WAS SMALLER THAN IT IS
RIGHT NOW.
WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT CHURCH
SERVICES HAVE DONE, IN TERMS OF
CREATING WHAT TURN INTO LARGE
CLUSTERS.
IN ONE CASE, WHICH TURNS, INTO