Six more people have tested positive for coronavirus connected to an outbreak at a Mendocino County church, the county’s public health officer announced on Sunday.
The new positive tests bring to nine the number of cases linked to a Mother’s Day livestream at the Assembly of God Church in Redwood Valley. One of the three originally confirmed is the congregation’s pastor, Jack McMilin. The church said last week on social media that he had been hospitalized in Ukiah.
Mendocino County has 22 confirmed coronavirus cases.
A video of the May 10 livestream on the church’s Facebook page indicated that only three people were present: McMilin, a female singer and the person recording the service. McMilin and the woman both sang at the event, while standing well apart.
After the illnesses became known last week, the Mendocino County health officer ordered testing in Redwood Valley, 8 miles north of Ukiah. Of 337 people tested last Tuesday, six were found positive — all of them having a connection to the church event.
On Saturday, 36 more people were tested because of their connection either to the church or to the workplace of another Mendocino County patient. Those results are expected to be available Wednesday.
California’s new protocol for reopening of churches urges congregations to “strongly consider discontinuing singing, group recitation and other practices and performances where there is increased likelihood for transmission from contaminated exhaled droplets.”
