Monday, September 07, 2020

The Mask-Defying Church at Center of Disastrous Maine Wedding Linked to 3 Deaths, 144 Virus Cases

https://news.yahoo.com/mask-defying-church-center-disastrous-185248422.html

Kelly Weill
,The Daily Beast•September 5, 2020

Maine’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak is linked to a wedding officiated by the pastor of a distancing-defying church who says masks are part of a “socialistic platform.” Now more than 144 COVID-19 patients have been linked to the event, and three people are dead.


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That wedding is the nexus of 144 COVID-19 cases, including three that resulted in deaths, Maine officials said Friday. One of the deceased, an 83-year-old woman, did not even attend the wedding, but contracted the virus from a guest. None of this appears to be stopping Bell from doing business as usual in his church, calling on worshippers to trust “God, not government” as the pandemic progresses.

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The August 7 wedding in Millinocket, Maine was a super-spreader event. Sixty-five guests attended the event at the Big Moose Inn, a violation of the state’s limit on large gatherings. Officiated by Bell, the celebration went on to sicken guests, some of whom in turn passed it on to people in particularly vulnerable communities.

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But despite a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Calvary Baptist-goers should voluntarily quarantine, the church was still in full unmasked operation last week.

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Another local told WGME that Calvary Baptist missionaries had actively proselytized after the wedding, even trying to enter her home without masks.

“They came in without masks and asked to come in even further,” the woman told the news station. “They asked twice if I was sure they couldn’t come into my living room. When I refused they forced a pamphlet at me.”


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