Coronavirus Superspreading Events - A Timeline

Timeline - Introduction

A running list, non-exhaustive obviously, that I've been keeping of novel coronavirus superspreading events (loosely construed). I like keeping lists, it serves to while away the time in this covidious era. Moreover, I've been wondering what the later histories will label as the most catastrophic in this ongoing shambles beyond say Mister Johnson's herd immunity regime of delay, deny and dither in Her Majesty's land, and the US federal and (certain) state governments' response to novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, between January and the present, or perhaps it might be Bolsonaro's bungling in Brazil that will trump even The Donald's dereliction of duty.

There is lot of modeling (a good summary) that suggests that it is superspreader events that have made the novel coronavirus and Covid-19 so lethal. Understanding them may help develop strategies for mitigating the risk. The Wife is a historian of medicine, her most popular classes are on the global history of disease and the like; I suppose then that I've contracted the fever of her social disease.

Taking a look at the timeline, we see what one would expect: religious events, funerals, sports (football as secular religion), conferences, the meeting circuit, parties, bars and clubs - the Dionysian impulse in essence (e.g. spring break), and comfort suites like choirs and our buffets where we get and share food. The more painful involve traditions from which we normally draw comfort. Those are unfortunate but humanity can always adjust our rituals, the human species is nothing if not adaptable. The more worrying, jarring, senseless, and yes, unforgivable, involve routine activities that are our daily normal. Deaths in these cases were eminently preventable and should have been avoided. Those involve workplaces, public transportation and what we've come to term essential work in places that we gather at with poor ventilation, sanitation or with inadequate social distancing.

Daily life should not endanger one's person, and it is intolerable that this has been the case, and with such unrelenting numbers. Going to work at a call center in Seoul, rising from your bunkbeds early to farm in Tennesee, being a migrant worker building Singapore's skyscrapers may embody a constrained normalcy, but it is normalcy nevertheless. Neither should living out your twilight years in a nursing home in Trenton, New Jersey, or a care home in Sussex in England, working on the assembly line at a company like my employer, let alone serving your time in America's prison industrial complex, or similar, packing meat at a Smithfield or Tyson agribusiness joint.

Or, to take a case close to my heart, my Uncle Mike, finding a bed at length at a rehab facility in Boris Johnson's austerity-ravaged NHS in London to recover from your stroke after months of recovery in a hospital should not be a death sentence. Your sanctuary should not become your morgue. And I see you there Mister Johnson, and you, Master Hancock, and you too Young David Cameron, you there hiding in the corner. I see all of you with your bluster, and I am keeping the receipts for your conduct. These receipts are measured in excess deaths, to use your preferred terminology, words that are intended to obscure. I am watching; indeed, the whole world is watching.

Human communal life is a contact sport. Social beasts that we are, we crave connection and community. Striving simians not far removed from the savanna, we groom each other with touch and with song. Faulty biology is a thing. The gospel of public health competes in the marketplace of ideas and often loses. Human perception of risk and probability is also at play. Anyway, less speculation, let's go the timeline...

— June 2 2020

Timeline

DateEvent
January 19 2020 The Thousands Households Chinese New Year Banquet

More than 40,000 participants attended the potluck banquet held in Wuhan, China

January 19 2020 Bus ride in Ningbo China

An asymptomatic woman who had recently been to Wuhan took a bus with 66 other passengers to a worship event at a Buddhist temple

The first outbreak started on January 19 among 293 lay Buddhists attending an outdoor, worship event held in a temple in Ningbo city of Zhejiang province. The index and source patient was a 64-year old female lay Buddhist. This patient and 66 other passengers took a bus to the event. A second similar bus carried 59 passengers to the same event. Both buses had an air conditioning system on a re-circulating mode (vents below the windows), four openable windows (two on each side), and neither had an attached toilet.
January 20 2020 Diamond Princess cruise ship leaves Yokohama Japan
January 20 2020 Shopping mall in Wenzhou China

34 people were infected after worker on 7th floor contracted covid-19

December 2019 - March 2020 The European Strains

Travel from and within Europe preceded the first coronavirus cases in at least 93 countries across all five continents, accounting for more than half of the world’s index cases. Travel from Italy alone preceded index cases in at least 46 countries, compared to 27 countries associated with travel from China.

February 6 and February 16 2020 Patient 31's church services in Daegu South Korea

She mingled in crowds of 9,300, had direct contact with 1200

February 15 2020 Zumba workshop in gym in in Cheonan, South Korea

a workshop for Zumba fitness instructors 15. Of the 27 instructors in attendance, eight eventually tested positive. 112 cases tied to the cluster.

February 18-23 2020 Weeklong Prayer Meeting Mulhouse, France

Five days of worship that set a virus time bomb in France

The prayer meeting kicked off the biggest cluster of COVID-19 in France - one of northern Europe’s hardest-hit countries - to date, local government said. Around 2,500 confirmed cases have been linked to it. Worshippers at the church have unwittingly taken the disease caused by the virus home to the West African state of Burkina Faso, to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, to Guyana in Latin America, to Switzerland, to a French nuclear power plant, and into the workshops of one of Europe’s biggest automakers.
February 18-26 2020 Life Care Center nursing home Kirkland, Washington USA
February 19 2020 Atalanta - Valencia Champion League match 40,000 supporters

I believe this match is the prime candidate for Ground Zero of the pandemic. Italy and Spain paid an especially heavy price in its aftermath, but all of Europe was affected.

February 25 2020 Mardi Gras in New Orleans
February 26–28 2020 Biogen conference Boston
The official count of those sickened — 99, including employees and their contacts, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health — includes only those who live in that state. The true number across the United States is certainly higher. The first two cases in Indiana were Biogen executives. So was the first known case in Tennessee, and six of the earliest cases in North Carolina.
[Update August 25 2020] Biogen conference likely led to 20,000 COVID-19 cases in Boston area, researchers say
An international meeting of Biogen leaders at a Boston hotel in February led to roughly 20,000 cases of COVID-19 in four Massachusetts counties by early May, far more than the 99 previously identified, according to three scientists involved in a new study.
[Update December 11 2020] 300,000 coronavirus cases traced to Boston biotech conference in February.
As many as 300,000 coronavirus cases across the United States can be traced to a two-day conference in Boston attended by 175 biotech executives in February, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. A virus carrying one mutation -- a small genetic change they've flagged as C2416T -- was apparently carried to the conference by a single person, and ended up infecting 245,000 people. A subset of the viral strain with a mutation known as G26233T ended up in 88,000 of these cases.
February 26 - 27 2020 Edinburgh Nike conference outbreak

Coronavirus: Earlier Scottish lockdown 'could have prevented 2,000 deaths'

Feb 27 to March 1 2020 The Sham Alam mosque event in Malaysia

500 infections, numerous countries affected

February 29 2020 A funeral in Albany, Georgia
March 4 2020 Ischgl ski resort Austria
At least four countries have now reported links to Ischgl, showing how the tiny village, home to no more than 1,600 permanent residents, became a major vector in spreading Covid-19. Alongside Denmark and Iceland, Germany has traced about 300 cases back to Ischgl, more than 80 of them in Hamburg and 200 in the small city of Aalen,
Some 40% of residents in the Tyrolean skiing resort that has been described as a possible “ground zero” for the pandemic in Europe have developed Covid-19 antibodies, scientists have found.

Scientists from the university of Innsbruck tested 80% of the population of Ischgl, a popular Austrian skiing destination from which tourists have been confirmed to have carried the virus to Germany, Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and even Brazil and Israel.

Of 1,259 adults and 214 children tested, 42.5% had developed antibodies for the virus.
March 7 2020 60th birthday party in Stockholm, Sweden
Ground Zero of the Swedish outbreaks, 70 of 100 guests got sick
March 7 2020 Four Bars, a wedding and a temple in Hong Kong
The largest cluster comprised 106 cases and was traced back to a collection of four bars across Hong Kong. The first cases associated with this ‘bar and band’ cluster were reported for two customers who reported exposure to a bar in Lan Kwai Fong on 7 March (onset 11 March) before two staff members from the same bar fell ill on 10 and 11 March... Transmission to the other three bars is suspected to have occurred via a number of musicians who performed at the four venues.

This single outbreak accounted for 10.2% (106/1,038) of all cases in Hong Kong during the study period, regardless of source, and 32.5% of all locally acquired SARS-CoV2 infections.

The second-largest cluster comprised a total of 22 cases and was linked to two SSEs at a wedding... The third-largest cluster totaled 19 cases and was associated with attendance at a local temple
March 8 2020 Amsterdam Mixed Choir performance

102 out of 130 singers

March 8 2020 Coronavirus Disease Outbreak in Call Center, South Korea

97 confirmed case-patients most working on the same 11th floor out of 1,143 tested

March 10 2020 WaterAid's Water and Climate event, London, UK
Event attended by Prince Charles (pictured coughing into his hand) and Prince Albert likely infected the mayor of Maputo, Mozambique and Burkina Faso's water and sanitation minister who would take the virus to their countries..
The celebrity quotient is high with this one, Canadian Premier's Justin Trudeau's wife, Idris Elba... The president of the University of Texas in Austin's wife...
March 10-13 2020 Cheltenham Festival UK
The annual event was attended by 250,000 people before the Government enforced social distancing measures... According to Government data there have been 972 cases of coronavirus in Gloucesteshire and 181 deaths.
March 11 2020 Liverpool v Atlético Madrid Champion's League
The Reds hosted Atletico at Anfield on 11 March in front of 52,000 fans including 3,000 from Madrid, which was already under partial lockdown.
March 13-18 2020 Spring breakers at Florida beaches
"If I get corona, I get corona..."
March 15 2020 The lines at US airports the day Trump's European travel ban came into effect...

One final viral infusion: Trump’s move to block travel from Europe triggered chaos and a surge of passengers from the outbreak’s center

March 15 2020 Friendship Baptist Church gathering of 7 black Baptist congregations in Everettville, North Central West Virginia
March 16-23 2020 UT Austin students Spring Break Cabo Beach Mexico
March 10 2020 Choir practice Skagit County, Washington
53 of the 61 contracted the coronavirus

High SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate Following Exposure at a Choir Practice — Skagit County, Washington

March 18-21 2020 Bondi beach recalcitrants in Australia
March 18 2020 Bangladeshi mass prayer meeting

10,000 Muslims had gathered in Raipur town to pray "healing verses" from the Koran. But some eyewitnesses told the BBC the figure was closer to 30,000.

March 21 2020 Senegalese protests after that iman was arrested
March 21-28 2020 Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg opening after spring break
March - April 15 2020 Smithfied pork factory Sioux City

Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough

A lawsuit filed against a Smithfield Foods plant claims it has created a public nuisance by failing to protect workers from coronavirus infection.
March - April 2020 Federal prisons USA
Over 70 percent of tested inmates in federal prisons have COVID-19
March - April 2020 Supermarkets in Cape Town, South Africa
major hot spots emerged in two supermarkets and a pharmaceutical factory that supercharged the virus’s spread. The hot spots in Tygerberg and Khayelitsha were probably driven by the lockdown’s closure of spaza shops, akin to corner stores, that in turn drove many people to crowded supermarkets.
April 1-15 2020 Coronavirus at Iowa Tyson plant infected 1,031 workers, county says — far more than state or company acknowledges
April 2 2020 71 infected with coronavirus at Sacramento church. USA

Congregation tells county ‘leave us alone’

In Sacramento County last month, 71 people connected to a single church were later infected with the coronavirus.

April 16 2020 'Liberation' protests in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas USA
April 17 2020 Governor of Khartoum refusing to cancel Friday prayers Sudan
April 19 2020 100,000 attended the funeral of popular preacher Jubayer Ahmad Ansari Bangladesh
April 28 2020 Hasidic funeral draws 2,500 Mourners (New York, USA)
April - May 1 2020 Trousdale Turner prison Tennesee - 1349 infected
April - May 1 2020 Tyson Foods Logansport plant 890 employees Indiana USA
April - May 1 2020 JBS Pork Plant Nobles County Minnesota pork processing 866 cases USA
April - May 1 2020 Triumph Foods St Josephs Missouri 300 cases USA
April - May 1 2020 Dakota City Nebraska meat plants and 669 worker infected Tyson plant Sioux City USA
April 27 2020 Fish processing factory, Tema, Ghana (533 workers)
533 souls infected at fish processing factory at Tema Ghana (out of 1100 workers at the plant)

Note: this might be community spread in Tema instead of the original claim of a single person being the super spreader

April 29 2020 Ohio prisons (1,976 prisoners) USA
Marion has one of the largest coronavirus prison outbreaks in the country, with nearly 80 percent of inmates, or about 1,976, testing positive for COVID-19, according to prison officials.
April 29 2020 Nearly 70 dead in ‘horrific’ outbreak at veterans home in Massachusetts (USA)
Sixty-eight veteran residents who tested positive for the virus have died, officials said Tuesday, and it’s not known whether another person who died had COVID-19. Another 82 residents and 81 employees have tested positive.
April 30 2020 Bar hopping in Seoul, Korea

Seoul closes down bars and clubs in wake of new coronavirus cluster

A 29-year-old South Korean man who didn’t know he had the virus went barhopping on April 30, after the country loosened restrictions. He and a friend went to five bars and clubs in Seoul. To date, 187 positive cases have been tied to this night on the town, including 93 people who visited the same nightspots as the pair.

Note that South Korean authorities had to test 35,000 people linked to club coronavirus cluster. It was a gay bar hence some patrons gave fake names to preserve anonymity.

April - May 2020 ICE detention facilities (all over US) (1,400+ detainees) USA

ICE keeps transferring detainees around the country, leading to COVID-19 outbreaks

Detainee transfers have led to COVID-19 outbreaks in facilities in at least 5 states. Despite limited testing, over 1,400 detainees have tested positive... ICE's largest outbreak is currently at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, Calif., where nearly 160 people have tested positive.
April - May 2020 Island prison in Los Angeles, CA (600+ inmates) USA
Some 600 inmates at FCI Terminal Island, roughly 57 percent of the total inmate population, have tested positive for the coronavirus,
May 1-7 2020 Coronavirus outbreak closes German meat-packing plant
The localized spike in cases comes after a test Thursday of 200 employees at the Westfleisch meat processing plant revealed 151 were positive for COVID-19.
Coronavirus highlights scandalous conditions in Germany's meat industry
Foreign workers are forced to endure inhumane living conditions so that we can eat cheap meat.
April - May 2020 Lousiana prison Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel USA

Most women in 1 Louisiana prison dorm have COVID-19

He said 39 women fell ill with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus so the rest of the women housed at Hunt — 155 who did not have symptoms — were also tested. Of those who did not have symptoms, 117 were infected
May 10 2020 Mother's Day church service California USA
A person who was Covid-19 positive attended a church service and exposed 180 people, officials say
May 10 2020 Church service Hanau Germany

Coronavirus cluster traced to German church

May 1-12 2020 Missouri hairstylist USA
A hairstylist worked while symptomatic and exposed 91 people to coronavirus
May 1-17 2020 Markets in Peru

Coronavirus outbreak 'Hubs of infection': how Covid-19 spread through Latin America's markets

May 23 2020 High school swim party in Arkansas USA
May 21 2020 570 Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus At North Carolina Poultry Plant USA
May 23 2020 Market in Java, Indonesia

a major market in Central Java was shut due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

May 23 2020 Coronavirus in South Africa: Outbreak closes Mponeng gold mine
Operations at the world's deepest gold mine, in South Africa, have been halted after 164 cases of coronavirus were detected there. It had been operating at 50% capacity but some workers have reportedly raised concerns about their safety. Most of those who tested positive were not showing any symptoms.
May 23 2020 Memorial Day pool party in Missouri

Partygoer at Lake of the Ozarks pool party tests positive for COVID-19, potentially exposing hundreds

May 25 2020 Hundreds test positive at meatpacking plant in Brazil
Brazilian meatpacker BRF said in a statement that nearly 340 people, or 6.6 per cent of workers, at its Concordia plant in Santa Catarina state had tested positive for the virus.
May 25 2020 Coronavirus outbreaks hits Farmer John, 8 other plants in Vernon
The largest outbreak occurred at the Smithfield Foods-owned Farmer John plant — producer of the beloved Dodger Dog — where 153 of 1,837 employees tested positive for COVID-19 between March and May. Between five and 24 employees at each of the facilities tested positive, county data show, although it wasn’t clear when those numbers were last updated. By the county’s standards, an outbreak has occurred when five or more workers have contracted the novel coronavirus.
May 20-29 2020 Coupang distribution warehouse.city of Bucheon, Itaewon South Korea
According to Yonhap News, some 266 cases have been traced to the Itaewon cluster.
May 28 2020 Farm in Tennessee USA
Every Single Worker Has Covid at One U.S. Farm on Eve of Harvest One farm in Tennessee distributed Covid-19 tests to all of its workers after an employee came down with the virus. It turned out that every single one of its roughly 200 employees had been infected.
May 28 2020 Gloucester County farm USA
In New Jersey, more than 50 workers had the virus at a farm in Gloucester County, adding to nearly 60 who fell ill in neighboring Salem County
May 30 2020 Coal mine in Poland
Out of 221 new infection cases reported by Saturday morning, 178 were identified in the Silesia mining region in southern Poland, which so far has showed the highest number of coronavirus infections as coal companies are still receiving the results of large-scale coronavirus tests conducted on mine workers.
May 28 2020 Belgian Prince Joachim tests positive after lockdown party Spain
Prince Joachim, 28, travelled from Belgium to Spain for an internship on 26 May, the palace said. Two days later, he went to a party in the southern city of Córdoba, before testing positive for Covid-19. Spanish reports suggest the prince, a nephew of Belgium's King Philippe, was among 27 people at the party.
For fun see King Leopold Haunts Congo Again
May 20 - June 1 2020 Schools in Jerusalem, Israel
Israel has told almost 10,000 students and teachers to quarantine at home as it struggles to stem an outbreak of coronavirus in schools three weeks after reopening its economy... at least 220 students and teachers were confirmed to have been infected in the past few days, including more than 150 from a single school in an upscale Jerusalem neighbourhood.
May 30 2020 North Texas family shaken after 18 relatives test positive for COVID-19 following surprise birthday party
one family is shouldering a health crisis that they never expected to face. That crisis, all began on May 30 when just a single relative, unknowingly infected with COVID-19, interacted with seven family members at a surprise birthday party.

Those seven family members then contracted and spread the virus to 10 other relatives. Now, Ron Barbosa is keeping track of 18 people in his family who have tested positive for COVID-19.

June 3 2020 Adama Traoré protests, France
In Paris, the authorities barred gatherings in front of the U.S. Embassy, but thousands protested there anyway in the late afternoon, as well as near the Eiffel Tower, echoing a protest on Wednesday that drew nearly 20,000 people to remember Adama Traoré, a Frenchman who died in police custody in 2016.
May 25 2020 - present George Floyd protests, Anytown USA
May - June 6 2020 Iranian wedding party fuelled new COVID-19 surge, President Rouhani says

A wedding party contributed to a new surge in coronavirus infections in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday but insisted the country had no option but to keep its economy open despite warnings of a second wave of the epidemic.

Iran, which has been gradually relaxing its lockdown since mid-April, has reported a sharp rise of new daily infections in recent days. Thursday’s toll of 3,574 new cases was the highest since February, when the outbreak was first reported.

June 13 2020 Fresh cluster prompts partial Beijing lockdown (China)

Eleven residential estates in south Beijing have been locked down due to a fresh cluster of coronavirus cases linked to a nearby meat market, local officials said on Saturday.

Forty-five out of 517 samples so far collected from merchants and employees at the Xinfadi meat market have tested positive for the virus, according to the People's Daily.

A second market, which provides 90% of the city's fruits and vegetables, was also shut after a cluster of four new Covid-19 cases was traced back to the site. Nine nearby schools and kindergartens have told to close next week.

[Update June 30 2020]

China puts 500,000 in lockdown as coronavirus cases rise again

The current outbreak was first detected in mid-June and has been traced back to Beijing's sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market, which supplies much of the city's fresh produce, sparking concerns over the safety of the food supply chain. Nearly a third of the cases so far have been linked to one beef and mutton section in the market, where workers are being made to quarantine for a month, city

June 16 2020 Oregon’s biggest coronavirus outbreak yet is linked to Union County church, state officials confirm (USA)

At least 236 coronavirus cases have been linked to an outbreak at Lighthouse United Pentecostal Church in Union County’s Island City, a small town near La Grande... The outbreak accounts for 47% of the 462 cases reported statewide since Monday... public health officials were just beginning the process of contact tracing to track how far the virus might have spread throughout Island City and La Grande. The city of La Grande holds more than half the county’s population of 27,000 people.

June 17 2020 Hundreds of abattoir workers test positive in Germany

More than 650 people have tested positive for the virus at the meat processing plant in Gütersloh, in the north-west of the country. Operations at the site have been suspended since Wednesday afternoon. Over 1,000 workers have been tested so far, with thousands of others still awaiting testing.

This is not the first time a meat processing plant has found itself at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak. Last month, Germany agreed a proposal banning the use of temporary workers at abattoirs following a spate of infections in Münster and Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The issue has brought a renewed focus on the poor working conditions in the sector, with some of the meat workers in previous outbreaks reported to have been living in shared accommodation.

[Update: June 23 2020]
Coronavirus: German outbreak sparks fresh local lockdowns
German authorities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia have reimposed lockdown restrictions in two districts after a spike in cases, with more than half a million people affected.

One area is home to a meatpacking plant where more than 1,500 workers have tested positive.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Laschet described the outbreak linked to the Tönnies meatpacking plant, south-west of the city of Gütersloh, as the "biggest infection incident" in the country.
[Update June 29 2020]
Germany: Gütersloh slaughterhouse infections spread to community

Over the past seven days, 75 cases were found in the wider population with no connection to the abattoir. By Friday evening, 2,203 coronavirus infections were recorded in the Gütersloh district, most of whom worked in the meat plant or were associated with it. The outbreak has led to a state decree that all employees in the meat industry must be tested for the coronavirus at least twice a week starting in July.

June 18 2020 Welsh chicken factory closes for two weeks over Covid-19 in staff Wales

Fifty-eight coronavirus cases confirmed among workers at 2 Sisters facility on Anglesey. The UK’s main supplier of supermarket chicken has shut one of its factories for two weeks after an outbreak of coronavirus among the plant’s staff...

United welcomed the move to close the Anglesey facility and predicted similar problems could arise throughout the meat processing sector.

June 18 2020 60 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Luling nursing home facility Wales

A nursing home facility in Luling Texas has 60 confirmed COVID-19 cases out of 150 residents and staff that were tested, according to the Caldwell County Office of Emergency Management.

June 26 2020 Seasonal Fruit Pickers at apartment complex illegally occupied by hundreds of migrant workers in Naples Italy

more than 40 people living at the abandoned buildings in Mondragone, 45 km from Naples, had tested positive for COVID-19, and warned the entire town could be quarantined if the outbreak proves widespread.

Many of those living at the complex are Bulgarians working as seasonal fruit pickers in the fields around the town.

June 17-27 2020 Overnight Camp Georgia
outbreak at an overnight camp in Georgia infects at least 260 campers and staff.
- 51% of positives were between 6-10 years old
- 44% 11-17 yo
- Camp required a test less than 12 days before arriving and attempted "pods"
- Masks required for staff but NOT campers
Out of 597 campers and staff, 344 were tested and 76% of those tests were positive
- 26% of the positives reported no symptoms
June 28 2020 Patrons are asked to self-quarantine after about 85 people who visited a Michigan bar get Covid-19 (USA)

The Health Department is asking patrons who visited Harper's Restaurant & Brew Pub between June 12 and June 20 to self-quarantine, and report cases of Covid-19.... The bar opted to close down temporarily to install air purifiers and to eliminate lines, a post says on its Facebook page.

June 29 2020 Leicester coronavirus outbreak started in food processing sites & spread through clothes factories as 10% test positive (England)

Leicester was today put into the UK's first local lockdown after a worrying spike saw 866 new cases recorded in just two weeks. The shocking numbers mean that the city accounts for 10 per cent of all coronavirus cases in the UK.

And it is understood that the outbreak originated in food processing sites - with Leicester particularly hit due to its high number of garment and sewing factories. Both the Samworth Brothers sandwich firm and Ethically Sourced Products clothes factory have been named as sites of minor outbreaks.

June 30 2020 Bihar: Groom dead, 95 guests who attended wedding test positive for coronavirus in Patna (India)
In what could be a case of mass spreading of Covid-19, as many as 95 guests who attended a wedding in Patna on June 15 have tested positive. The groom, who was symptomatic, had died two days after the wedding.
May - June 30 2020 San Quentin prison outbreak affect 1313 inmates (California, USA)
“The inmates had tested negative for the disease before they were moved to San Quentin,” Kelso said. “But many of those tests were 2-3 weeks old — far too old to be an indicator for the absence of the virus.” Once the inmates arrived at San Quentin, they were tested again. “San Quentin is in crisis,” he said. “Upon retesting at San Quentin, 25 out of the 125 inmates tested positive and San Quentin almost immediately fell behind the virus.” As of Wednesday morning, there were 1,313 confirmed active COVID-19 cases among the inmates housed at the prison. Of those at least 40 have been transferred out of the prison under heavy security to local hospitals for treatment, filling up critical care and ICU beds.
July 2 2020 one 'super spreader' could be responsible for Melbourne spike in cases Australia
Victoria has announced 66 new cases of Covid-19 as the state’s health minister revealed Melbourne’s wave of new cases could potentially be traced back to a single “super spreader” of the virus.

“On Tuesday, I received a briefing of a genomic sequencing report that seemed to suggest that there seems to be a single source of infection for many of the cases that have gone across the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne,” the minister, Jenny Mikakos, said on Friday. “It appears to be even potentially a super spreader that has caused this upsurge in cases.”

Australia Thought it tamed the beast. It didn't

It spread in part because of the sharing of a cigarette lighter among security guards working at a hotel where returning international travelers are being quarantined. It later circulated in low-income neighborhoods in the Melbourne area with sizable migrant populations, including inside a supermarket distribution center.

[Update July 9 2020]

Coronavirus in Australia: Melbourne begins new shutdown

Australia's second-largest city has begun a second lockdown in response to a spike in new coronavirus infections. Melbourne's five million residents will be barred from leaving home for six weeks, except for essential reasons. Police say they are setting up a "ring of steel" around the city, with "checkpoints anytime and anywhere" to enforce the measures.

July 3 2020 Revelers flock to Myrtle Beach and the Virus Follows Them Home South Carolina USA
A popular spring break and summertime destination on the South Carolina coast is linked to clusters of coronavirus cases among teenagers and young adults in several states.

Around 400 teenagers from Loudoun County, Va., trekked in June to the Grand Strand, as this stretch of the South Carolina coast is known, to experience the region’s reputation for teenage debauchery... More than 100 of the Loudoun County teenagers have since tested positive, and public health officials think the number will keep rising.
July 3 2020 Frat house outbreak leaves 93 infected with coronavirus at University of Washington
A coronavirus outbreak at the University of Washington’s off-campus frat houses has left at least 93 students sickened with the illness, the school announced Friday. Eighty-nine of the infected students at the Seattle school live on Greek Row, while the other four came into close contact with frat house residents.
July 9 2020 Coronavirus sweeps summer camp, infects 82 campers, counselors and staff in Missouri
“At the time of this release 82 campers, counselors and staff have tested positive for Covid-19. All 82 positive cases were from the Kanakuk K-2 camp in Lampe. Many of these cases returned to their place of residence and then tested positive.”
July 9 2020 Churches were eager to reopen, now they are a major source of coronavirus cases
In Texas, about 50 people contracted the virus after a pastor told congregants they could once again hug one another... In Texas, Pastor Ron Arbaugh said his church, the Calvary Chapel of San Antonio, had followed "the letter of the law" and tried to practice social distancing since it was allowed to reopen in May. But now, about 50 congregants and staff members - including the pastor and his wife - have tested positive for the coronavirus. Mr Arbaugh said all the cases had been mild so far. He said he does not know how the virus spread in the church or who brought it in, but that he now regrets announcing after several weeks of resumed services that congregants could hug one another again. "In retrospect, I would have said: Just maintain that distance," he said.
July 12 2020 200 farm workers quarantined in Herefordshire outbreak
About 200 workers at a vegetable farm and packing business supplying Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S and Aldi have been ordered to isolate on the property after an outbreak of coronavirus. At least 73 of the workers at AS Green & Co, based in Herefordshire, have tested positive for Covid-19, and more are awaiting results. All of the farm’s workforce has been told to isolate in mobile homes used by pickers and packers during harvest season. The group was being treated as an “extended bubble” to reduce the risk of the outbreak spreading outside the farm, an official said
July 13 2020 US military bases in Okinawa hit by Covid-19 as outbreak worsens
The Okinawa prefectural governor's office said 94 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed among the personnel at the US Marines Corps' Air Station Futenma, Camp Hansen and Camp Kinza as of Monday afternoon.
Coronavirus Outbreak at U.S. Bases in Japan Roils an Uneasy Relationship
The Marines reported 94 new cases on Okinawa, an island that had seen just 148 other infections. Local officials say the military is not doing enough. Denny Tamaki, the governor of Okinawa, said he was shocked by the number of infections and said it was “extremely regrettable” that so many cases had emerged among American troops and affiliated personnel in less than a week. Excluding the American cases, Okinawa has recorded just 148 infections since February...
The United States military in South Korea also announced on Monday that 11 troops had tested positive upon arrival from the United States.
July 13 2020 Nearly 1,000 U.S. immigration detention center employees test positive for coronavirus
More than 930 employees of private contractors running U.S. immigration detention centers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus
July 15 and 16 2020 Australia Church Choir singing
The case-patient had sung from a choir loft, elevated 3.5 m above the congregation, which he entered before and left after the service. He denied touching objects in the church or mixing with the general congregation.... We detected 12 secondary case-patients among 508 service attendees, SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing was performed for the primary case-patient and 10 secondary case-patients (6). These case-patients formed a single genomic cluster... Airbone transmission.
July 7-23 2020 Babylon club Cordoba Spain
After already enjoying a long night of graduation celebrations, a throng of young people poured into the Babylon discothèque at 5 a.m. to continue partying in the southern Spanish city of Córdoba. Two weeks later, 91 people linked to the Babylon’s 400 identified partygoers have tested positive for the coronavirus and the regional authorities are still struggling to trace all those who entered the club that night, or who later came into contact with them.

In Córdoba, there are conflicting accounts of what happened in the Babylon club, which was restricted to 40 percent of its 500-person capacity to allow social distancing. Regional officials say they have identified about 400 people who went to the club that night, though its management has insisted that no more than 140 were inside at any one moment. The club is now closed while an investigation continues.

July 27 2020 Party at Surf City, New Jersey (USA)
17 Jersey Shore lifeguards test positive for coronavirus after partying. 17 lifeguards, all of whom had “attended a party in Surf City,” had tested positive for COVID-19.
July 27 2020 After a party, 17 anesthesiologist residents at UF hospital system diagnosed with COVID
At least 17 anesthesiologist residents and a fellow at one of the premier university hospital systems in Florida contracted COVID-19 earlier this month after attending a private party together, according to hospital insiders and internal documents. The outbreak at University of Florida Health occurred after a party at a private home, according to people familiar with the situation.
July 27 2020 Alabama Baptist Church Revival
More than 40 people were infected with the coronavirus after attending a multi-day revival event at a north Alabama Baptist church, according to the congregation’s pastor. “The whole church has got it, just about,” Pastor Daryl Ross of Warrior Creek Missionary Baptist church in Marshall county told AI.com. The pastor said churchgoers, including himself, tested positive after a series of religious services featuring a guest pastor over several days last week.
July 29 2020 Parties in Rhode Island
So a Department of Health team conducted an in-depth analysis of 4,000 positive cases, looking for commonalities that would explain the increase, and one conclusion became clear: “We are partying too much,” Raimondo said. “Social gatherings are too large, and folks aren’t wearing their masks.” She said health officials traced new cases to a house party with more than 50 people who weren’t wearing masks, a large birthday party in a backyard, a large birthday party in a restaurant, a baby shower, a pool party, and a sports banquet. The analysis found seven to 10 positive cases for each of those parties, she said.
July 30 2020 Meatworks and coronavirus: The 'domino effect' from Victoria's abattoirs pushing COVID-19 case numbers higher
Victoria's meat processing businesses are on the nose again; they have been linked to almost 300 cases of coronavirus in the state, with the industry responsible for more cases than any other outside the aged care and education sectors.

As of Saturday, there were 80 cases linked to Somerville Retail Services (SRS) in Tottenham, which provides packaged meat for Coles Supermarkets. There were 45 linked to the Australian Lamb Company in the south-west Victorian town of Colac, and at least 62 connected to JBS Australia in Brooklyn and at least five cases at Ingham's poultry processing facility in Thomastown. The cases came after 111 infections connected to Cedar Meats, which was the largest cluster in Victoria until earlier this month.

Much has changed in the past four decades, including an increasingly casualised workforce. Many workers in the industry had no choice but to show up for shifts even if they had symptoms,

August 3 2020 MS Roald Amundsen Norweigian Cruise Ship
Thirty-six crew and four guests on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for Covid-19, the cruise company says. All 158 crew members from the MS Roald Amundsen have been tested after four staff became ill and were found to have the disease on Friday, according to a statement released Saturday by Hurtigruten, the owner of the ship.

The MS Roald Amundsen had two expeditions to the Arctic, one on July 17 with 209 guests, and another on July 24 with 178 guests on board.

Coronavirus outbreak hits Norway cruise ship that stopped at dozens of ports: "We have made mistakes"
A Norwegian cruise ship line halted all trips and apologized Monday for procedural errors after an outbreak of coronavirus on one ship infected at least 5 passengers and 36 crew. Health authorities fear the ship could have infected dozens of towns and villages along Norway's western coast. The 41 people on the MS Roald Amundsen who tested positive have been admitted to the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsoe, north of the Arctic Circle, where the ship currently is docked.
August 7 2020Coronavirus outbreak at Houston-area nursing home kills 17 residents
A novel coronavirus outbreak at a Missouri City nursing home, outside of Houston, has killed 17 residents, according to data from state officials. The city also reported that the facility has 24 infected staff members and the nursing home reported 11 currently infected residents who are in stable condition.

“This harrowing development speaks to the severity of this pandemic and how everyone needs to take it even more seriously,” said Missouri City Mayor Yolanda Ford of the outbreak. The news comes as Texas officials said Thursday that limited visitation at nursing homes and assisted-living centers can resume, ending a months-long ban to prevent spread of coronavirus among some of the most vulnerable Texans.

August 8 2020 Starbucks in Paju Korea
After a woman with the coronavirus visited a Starbucks cafe north of Seoul this month, more than two dozen patrons tested positive days later. But the four face mask-wearing employees escaped infection. The Aug. 8 outbreak in the South Korean city of Paju is another example of how rapidly the SARS-CoV-2 virus can spread in confined, indoor spaces -- as well as ways to minimize transmission. With health authorities around the world still debating the evidence around face masks, the 27-person cluster linked to the air-conditioned coffee outlet adds more support for their mandatory use to help limit the spread of the COVID-19-causing virus.
May - August 12 2020 San Quentin’s coronavirus outbreak shows why ‘herd immunity’ could mean disaster
But the disastrous situation unfolding at San Quentin State Prison over the last two months has become the latest of several cautionary tales that show how any effort to achieve herd immunity before a vaccine is available would come with enormous costs in terms of illness and death.

COVID-19 spread unchecked across California’s oldest prison in ways that stunned public health experts, despite efforts to control the disease. As of Monday, there had been more than 2,200 cases and 25 deaths, among a population of more than 3,260 people. On Sunday, a guard became one of the latest to die.
August 1-14 2020 Strip club in Toronto Canada
As many as 550 people may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a downtown strip club after an employee tested positive for the virus. The potential exposure took place just days after the Brass Rail Tavern, one of the city’s best-known strip clubs, was allowed to re-open. The employee worked four shifts in early August, the city said in a statement, without detailing the capacity in which the employee worked.

Public health experts, however, questioned how many patrons would have handed over legitimate contact information. “You know how long it’s going to take them to chase down 550 guys, half of which probably gave fake ID or information,” Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto told the Associated Press. Toronto health officials suggested their initial investigation found the club to be lacking when it came to following the required protocols, which include distancing between staff and customers and the use of a plexiglass shield when this is not possible.

August 5 - 21 2020 Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul South Korea
In the past week, the outbreak has forced the church to shut down, and its congregants to isolate themselves at home. The infections among church members and their contacts have spiked to 676 cases

The outbreak pushed South Korea’s daily caseload to 288 on Thursday, the seventh straight day of triple-digit jumps, which shattered hopes that the country had managed to blunt the epidemic sooner than most nations. It marked the biggest cluster of infections in South Korea since an outbreak in the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the central city of Daegu in February and March was tied to 5,200 patients.

August 7 2020 Wedding Reception in Maine USA
A coronavirus outbreak linked to a wedding in Maine has led to one death and 52 COVID-19 cases, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Saturday. About 65 people attended a wedding reception at Big Moose Inn in Millinocket on Aug. 7, the Maine CDC said, flouting the state's 50-person limit on indoor gatherings. Officials initially identified 24 people who tested positive for COVID-19 after the wedding, 18 of whom were attendees, and six who had come into contact with guests. The number of positive cases linked to the wedding has since increased, and the person who died Friday was one of the patients who did not attend the wedding,
August 7-16 202080th annual Sturgis motorcycle rally
South Dakota Department of Transportation officials tracked more than 462,000 vehicles entering Sturgis during the rally... one of the largest mass gatherings since the start of the pandemic. At least seven Covid-19 cases in Nebraska's Panhandle region have been tied to the rally... Minnesota also confirmed 15 cases of Covid-19 connected with the rally, South Dakota state health officials announced Thursday that a person who worked at a tattoo shop in Sturgis had tested positive for the virus and could have possibly exposed people during the event last week.

Revved by Sturgis Rally, COVID-19 infections move fast, far

Health departments in four states, including South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wyoming, have reported a total of 81 cases among people who attended the rally. South Dakota health officials said Monday they had received reports of infections from residents of two other states — North Dakota and Washington. The Department of Health also issued public warnings of possible COVID-19 exposure at five businesses popular with bikers, saying it didn't know how many people could have been exposed.
August 27 2020 Billionaire nightclub Sardinia Italy
Italy contacting visitors to Sardinian nightclub after Covid-19 cluster

More than 60 cases are linked to Billionaire, owned by former F1 boss Flavio Briatore

Italian health authorities are tracing visitors to the former Formula One team boss Flavio Briatore’s Sardinian nightclub amid fears of a coronavirus cluster after more than 60 confirmed cases were linked to the venue. Billionaire, on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast, has hosted thousands of guests in August, including hundreds of Italian and international VIPs.

Silvio Berlusconi tests positive for Covid-19 after Sardinia visit

Former Italian prime minister recently met Flavio Briatore, who owned nightclub at heart of coronavirus cluster
Summer 2020 A large national outbreak of COVID-19 linked to air travel, Ireland
Fifty-nine laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 from six of the eight different health regions (Regions A–H) throughout the Republic of Ireland were linked to an international flight into Ireland in summer 2020 (Figure 1). An outbreak case was defined as positive PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (naso-pharyngeal swab) in either a passenger or a contact of a passenger. Thirteen cases were passengers on the same flight to Ireland, each having transferred via a large international airport, flying into Europe from three different continents
September 11 2020 Scores of Senegalese troops test positive for Covid-19 in The Gambia
The Senegalese army says about 100 of its soldiers from the peacekeeping mission in The Gambia have tested positive for coronavirus. The military contingent composed of 600 soldiers was returning home.
September 25 2020 Sweet 16 'super-spreader' party in New York leads to 37 coronavirus cases, $12,000 fine USA
The birthday bash was held on Sept. 25 at the Miller Place Inn on Long Island — about 65 miles east of Manhattan — and drew 81 people... That party was in violation of emergency state health codes that limit gatherings to 50 people or 50 percent of room capacity, whichever is a smaller number. Partygoers also failed to wear masks and maintain social distance, according to Bellone. The 37 people linked to the event who tested positive consist of 28 students and nine adults.
September 26 2020 Virus’s unseen hot zone: The American farm
The Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, in collaboration with Microsoft, estimates 128,000 farmworkers nationwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, as of Sept. 24. But Jayson Lusk, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue, says their dashboard could be a dramatic undercount as it does not include part-time and temporary workers.

By comparison, 42,988 meatpacking workers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in 498 meat plants as of Sept. 24
September 26 - October 1 2020 White House Cluster (40 and counting) USA

Between the celebration of the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to the first Presidential debate. The President, the First Lady, their son, Hope Hicks, the chair of the Republican National Committe, the president of Notre Dame university, campaign manager, two Republican senators, 3 White House reporters, Kellyanne Conway, 11 people who helped set up the debate, Labor Secretary Scalia's wife... 40 and counting

September 28 to October 4 2020 Spinco Gym class (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
A spin studio that public health officials say followed all Covid-19 protocols is now reporting 61 positive cases of Covid-19, and as many as 100 staff, clients and family members may have been exposed.
October 13 2020 Bethel Redding College, Faith Healing Church School, California USA
Shasta County health officials had confirmed 274 positive coronavirus cases at the school, which has a student body of more than 1,600 people. With 159 new cases reported over the weekend — and another 95 on Monday — Shasta County is on the verge of being moved into Tier 4 in the state’s four-tiered regulatory system, indicating “widespread” transmission risk.
October 17 2020 Wedding in Suffolk County New York USA
Wedding and Birthday Party Infect 56, Leaving Nearly 300 in Quarantine
Ninety-one people attended the wedding, on Oct. 17, officials said. Thirty people, including 27 guests, two employees and an outside vendor, later tested positive for the virus, and 156 people wound up under quarantine, officials said.
October 20 2020 Nursing Home in Kansas USA
All 62 residents at the privately owned Andbe Home in Norton have tested positive for the virus... Ten people living at a Kansas nursing home have died after an outbreak of Covid-19 infected every resident... Some staff members have also tested positive, and the rest are being tested
November 1 2020 15 members of north Texas family get COVID-19 after small birthday party
her family didn’t believe gathering with family was high-risk and that they’d all grown tired of not seeing each other as regularly as they normally do.
November 7 2020 White house cluster take 2
At least 12 people in President Donald Trump's orbit have tested positive since White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tested positive for COVID-19
More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump’s campaign travel
nearly 50 Covid-19 cases among the Trump administration and campaign officials including Donald Trump Jr.
November 7 2020 300-person superspreader wedding in Washington
Nursing home staffers attended a 300-person superspreader wedding. Now six residents have died. more than 300 people packed into a wedding near rural Ritzville, Wash., defying state restrictions. Authorities later traced more than a dozen coronavirus cases and two outbreaks to the ceremony — and warned that the fallout would likely get worse. Now, health officials say the wedding also included some guests whose job is caring for among the most vulnerable to coronavirus: nursing-home residents. And at least six residents have now died of covid-19 at two nursing homes where staffers tested positive for the virus after attending the wedding
November 7-8 2020 Youth basketball league, Santa Clara USA
A large COVID-19 outbreak in Santa Clara County is being traced back to youth basketball programs, the county announced Friday. The county says the private basketball program for middle and high school-aged players was violating local and state health orders. As of Dec. 11, public health officials identified 77 positive cases related to the outbreak in the county, including 39 youth players, three coaches and 35 additional contacts. The investigation also unveiled 17 additional cases in other counties so far. The county learned that players from affected teams traveled from Santa Clara County to Place County to participate in a tournament on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. Of the 37 players, 33 of them tested positive for the virus, along with all three coaches from the Santa Clara County based teams.
November 11-14 2020 Naughty in N'awlins swingers convention in New Orleans USA
Forty-one people have tested positive for coronavirus after attending a swingers convention in New Orleans, in what officials have called a “super-spreader event”.
November 19 2020 cluster at Hong Kong dance clubs balloons to 80 cases after warning of ‘super-spreader’ event
A coronavirus cluster centred on Hong Kong dance clubs has mushroomed into the second-largest outbreak of the pandemic after another 46 people linked to the venues were confirmed as infected, taking the total to 80.... Authorities had earlier warned of a “super-spreading” event linked to the 14 dance clubs located across the city... Billionaire Rosanna Wang Gaw tested positive yesterday, while a dance club she visited in Wan Chai saw five other preliminary positive cases.
December 1 2020 Nursing Homes in State College Pennsylvania
Nearly 90% of Centre Crest residents are actively infected with the coronavirus, leaving the Bellefonte facility as a symbol of the unabated spread of COVID-19 in nursing or personal care homes in Centre County. There were 145 active cases among the nursing and rehabilitation center’s 164 residents as of Monday.
There are also 46 active cases among the facility’s 283 employees, a rate of about 16%.
December 5 2020 Santa visits Belgian care home
The outbreak followed a visit on 5 December by volunteers dressed as Saint Nicholas and his helper Zwarte Piet, organised by the nursing home’s management. The white-bearded, red-robed figure of Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, brings gifts to Belgians every 6 December. But within days, residents had displayed symptoms of coronavirus. Twenty six have since died and 85 more have tested positive for coronavirus, along with 40 staff.
December 4-9 2020 High school wrestling tournament Florida USA
an unmasked wrestling tournament of 10 participating high schools from 3 counties lead to at least 79 infections and 1 death (38 attendees and 41 contacts). During December 8–9, 13 wrestlers from school A received positive SARS-CoV-2 test results (Figure), including nine who were symptomatic, two who were asymptomatic, and two for whom symptom status at time of specimen collection was unknown.
December 19 2020 Prison and Nursing Home in South Korea
South Korean officials have said that 185 of the country’s record-breaking Saturday tally (1,097) were in a prison. The facility in south-eastern Seoul has reported a major outbreak, with 184 inmates and one employee diagnosed so far, according to a justice ministry official... About 61 people at a nursing home in the city of Cheongju contracted the virus, Yonhap news agency said.
December 19 2020 Wholesale Seafood Market in Bangkok, Thailand
The 548 new cases, most of them connected with an outbreak at a wholesale seafood market on the outskirts of Bangkok, come after Thailand had only a small number of infections over the past several months due to strict border and quarantine controls. Health officials said 516 of the new cases, most of them migrant workers from Myanmar, were found in connection with the outbreak at the Klang Koong shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province. All of those infections were linked to a 67-year-old seafood vendor who tested positive for the coronavirus earlier, the director general of the medical sciences department, Opas Karnkawinpong, said in a news conference broadcast to all TV channels on Saturday night. The first case at the market was confirmed on Thursday, followed by 13 more on Friday. “While there is a likelihood of finding more infections in crowded foreign communities around the shrimp market, they are low-risk groups because they are working age and healthy,” Opas said. Most of those who tested positive were asymptomatic.
December 23-28 2020 More than 100 residents have COVID-19 at Escondido nursing home California USA
the nursing home earned the distinction of having the largest active outbreak in a skilled nursing facility in San Diego County. As of Wednesday, Escondido Post Acute had 111 residents and 70 healthcare workers who had the novel coronavirus out of a total of 139 residents and 81 staff who had tested positive there since the beginning of the pandemic... there were 48 active outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities, including 16 new ones since last week’s report, bringing the total of novel coronavirus outbreaks to 133.
December 27 2020 COVID-19 outbreak infects 43 staff members at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center (USA)
43 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 this week, starting last Sunday, Dec. 27 until yesterday. Additionally, the hospital says a holiday-spirited costume that was air-powered and worn by a staff member who was briefly in the emergency department on Christmas day... the staff member who appeared in the emergency department was only trying to spread holiday cheer.
December 31 2020 145 employees at Washington state Costco test positive for COVID-19 (USA)
Health officials said this week that 145 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 at a Costco store near Yakima, but the store remains open while the Yakima Health District investigates.
January 6 2021 Trump's Mob Washington DC USA
At least 19 Capitol Police officers either tested positive for the coronavirus or were found through contact tracing to have been exposed since a mob of Trump supporters — most of them not wearing masks — attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to three people familiar with the matter. They are the latest additions to a growing tally of people who have been infected since the deadly riot at the Capitol. Seven members of Congress have tested positive since the attack; some House Democrats have pointed to their Republican colleagues who did not wear masks while they were sheltering from rioters and forced into secure hiding for hours.
January 17 2021 Nursing Home in Belgium
The UK variant of the coronavirus has killed three residents at a retirement home in northwestern Belgium and infected 111 people including 39 staff members, its director Jurgen Duyck told AFP on Sunday. The cluster represents two-thirds of the residents of the De Groene Verte home in the western Flanders city of Houthulst near the border with France.
January 18 2021 The Traveling Salesman Problem (China)
A so-called Covid-19 "superspreader" who traveled around northeastern China has been linked to 102 confirmed infections, according to Chinese officials. The individual, who worked as a salesman promoting health products to the elderly, had traveled from his home province of Heilongjiang to neighboring Jilin province, bringing the virus with him. Authorities claim he unknowingly spread the virus among elderly residents for several days before he was tracked down by health officials as a close contact of a confirmed case.
January 19 2021 Two Rivers Correctional Oregon USA
639 inmates at Two Rivers have tested positive for the virus and 304 cases are active, making the prison the center of the largest COVID outbreak in the state
January 23 2021 A cat's birthday party reportedly leads to 15 people contracting COVID
An outbreak that led to 15 people testing positive for COVID-19 has been traced back to a birthday party thrown for a cat. Ten people who attended the feline fiesta contracted the deadly virus, along with 5 friends and family members of the cat’s owner, reported the Daily Mail. The birthday puss did not contract the disease, the outlet noted.
January 8 - 23 2021 COVID-19 variant first seen in U.K. found in Barrie long-term care home
127 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, all but two of the residents at the home. Six residents are currently in hospital. Eighty-four staff members have tested positive for the virus, which Gardner says account for nearly half of the home's staff. Gardner also said there have been 32 deaths at the home, as of Saturday. The outbreak was declared on Jan. 8.
February 8 2021 Nursing home in south of France
A 116-year-old nun has recovered from Covid-19 after it swept through a nursing home in the south of France, writes Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent. Sister Andrée, born Lucile Randon in 1904, tested positive for the coronavirus last month at the Sainte-Catherine Labouré home near Toulon where, despite health safety measures, 81 of the 88 residents contracted the virus and 10 of whom died.
February 27 2021 Namur Prison, Belgium
More than 60 prisoners catch Covid. Inmates are to be restricted to their cells in a Belgian prison after more than half of a facility's population tested positive for Covid-19. Quarantine measures have been introduced at Namur prison following the rapid spread of coronavirus among its 132 prisoners. Inmates will not be allowed walks or showers, but will have a hot meal and hygiene products delivered daily. Belgium prisoners quarantined after virus outbreak
March 17 2021 Hong Kong Gym
The outbreak, which has grown to 132 cases, began last week in a gym that caters to white-collar workers. Hundreds of close contacts have been rounded up for quarantine, including a large number of children whose schools have turned up cases.
April 4 2021 Plane from New Delhi to Hong Kong
69 passengers on Vistara flight UK6395 from New Delhi to Hong Kong on April 4th have now tested positive for COVID-19. 22 of them tested positive after their Day 12 hotel quarantine test.
April 11 2021 Whistler Ski Resort Canada
Canada ski resort linked to largest outbreak of P1 Covid variant outside Brazil Whistler, in British Columbia, has nearly 200 of 877 confirmed cases in the province but officials have only a murky idea of how widely variant has spread... The P1 outbreak has since spread throughout the province and into neighbouring Alberta. It is suspected of infecting 21 players on Vancouver’s professional hockey team, the Canucks.
April 12-17 2021 Kumbh Mela festival India
“Pilgrims from all states carried variant viruses and seeded epidemics,” said T Jacob John, a former director of virology at the Indian Council of Medical Research. In the aftermath, Ashish Jha, dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, said the Kumbh Mela was possibly “the biggest superspreader event in the history of the pandemic”
April 25 2021 Spanish Workplace Cougher
A Spanish man with Covid symptoms who coughed on work colleagues and told them “I’m going to give you all the coronavirus” has been charged with intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people, Days before the outbreak, the man showed Covid symptoms but refused his colleagues’ suggestions to go home and self-isolate, police said in a statement.

After work, and showing no improvement, he went for a PCR test before visiting a gym and returning to work the next day. Though his superiors told him to go home after he allegedly had showed a temperature of 40 degrees C, the man refused. He walked around his workplace, lowering his face mask and coughing on people, saying “I’m going to infect you all with the coronavirus,” according to police.

At the end of the day, his PCR test came back positive. His colleagues were then tested, with five returning positive results. They in turn infected family members, including three infants, police said. At the gym the man visited, three people tested positive and also infected family members.
April 2021 People's Church maskless service Oregon USA
An Oregon church sued over covid-19 restrictions. Now, an outbreak there has sickened 74

In early April, dozens of maskless churchgoers in northwest Oregon stood onstage singing and clapping inside a packed indoor venue for Easter Sunday service. The Peoples Church, which previously sued the state over coronavirus restrictions, hosted three similar indoor services that day, each lasting a little over an hour. Now, the Oregon Health Authority says that at least 74 people associated with the church have tested positive for the coronavirus — one of the state’s largest workplace outbreaks....

Murray said the church, which has held in-person services throughout the pandemic, intends to continue with in-person ceremonies on Sunday.
May 27 2021 Revival Ekklesia Mission Church Vietnam
On Wednesday, three members of a local evangelical sect visited a hospital in Binh Thanh District in Ho Chi Minh City with respiratory conditions. They were isolated and tested, and were positive for COVID-19.

Contact tracing and testing found 33 more cases through Thursday night, all linked to the sect (29 members, seven close contacts), with positive cases spread across 16 districts, including a chef at the Sheraton Hotel downtown. 53% of these people have shown COVID-19 symptoms - which is high.

The group in question is the Revival Ekklesia Mission, with an address in Go Vap District. According to their Facebook page, the mission is “a Christian charismatic congregation in fervent prayers for Revival and Salvation in Jesus Christ’s name for everyone.”
November 12, 2022 A cruise ship with 800 covid cases docks in Sydney


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