Two deaths and two dozen cases of COVID-19 are being linked to a church revival in Hopkins County that was held after Kentucky officials banned in-person church services.
In his daily briefing over Facebook Live Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced that a high number of COVID-19 cases in Hopkins County are directly linked to a church revival held in Dawson Springs on March 15 and 16th. A release from the governor's office said that the revival was held after a ban was put in place on holding church services in-person.
Several people became ill after the revival, but church leaders posted on social media that it was the flu and not COVID-19.
From a report obtained from the Hopkins County Health Department, Beshear read, “According to several people interviewed, they were encouraged not to self-quarantine and still come to church. They did not practice social distancing at the revival. Hopkins County now has twenty-four cases, hundreds of contacts and two deaths with an epidemiological link to this revival.”
He read on, "Additionally, we have cases in Muhlenberg, Clark and Warren counties. We also have a case in a nursing home and a business with a potential outbreak from this one revival. A health care facility and an ambulance service that has had multiple people affected. We closed a hospital unit and opened a COVID unit. This has spread throughout our community."
Beshear encouraged all Kentucky residents to strictly observe social distancing and good personal hygiene to avoid spreading the coronavirus further in the state.
