A COVID-19 outbreak linked to Christmas Eve services at a church in Woburn has infected dozens of worshippers and public health officials fear the virus will become more widespread in other local communities, Mayor Scott Galvin said.
Galvin said the city’s Board of Health nurses have been working with the state to notify those affected by the outbreak at GENESIS Community Church and help them quarantine to prevent further transmission of the virus that has infected nearly 368,000 people statewide.
“It’s kind of a unique situation because the GENESIS church is located in Woburn, and probably 25 percent of churchgoers are from Woburn,” Galvin said in an interview Saturday. “It’s a regional type of church, so some of the people who are testing positive could be from different cities.”
GENESIS, which last week announced 44 positive cases of the virus, is the latest church in Massachusetts to report a major outbreak of Covid-19. In November, more than 200 cases had been traced back to events at Crossroads Community Church in Fitchburg.
Elsewhere in New England, a wedding reception in rural East Millinocket, Maine, became a so-called “super spreader event” linked to 178 cases and at least 7 deaths. Churches and religious gatherings have become a major cause for concern for public health officials.
In light of the Christmas holiday, the capacity at houses of worship was reduced to 25 percent capacity, effective Dec. 26 for at least two weeks, from 40 percent, state officials announced last month.
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