Millinocket Wedding COVID Outbreak. Lessons Learned?

Millinocket facing Mount Katahdin
Preface: I love my beautiful hometown. I liked it better when we all talked more about the beauty of the region, good times, the resilience, integrity and warmth of the citizens, instead of COVID. We will all work really hard to make it that way again.
My previous blog was about the ongoing heart breaking tragedy in my hometown, Millinocket, Maine. My town is in the midst of a growing COVID 19 outbreak.
On August 7, a young couple were married at the Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket, ME. Then they moved the gathering to the Big Moose Inn on Millinocket Lake about 15 miles away. This should have been a fun, beautiful celebration. The happy couple, their families and guests should have been able to enjoy this special occasion without a care in the world. Party on…right?
Wrong, there is a COVID 19 pandemic.
Churches and reception venues are under strict State preventative guidance and regulations. Safe happy celebrations are possible, but unfortunately, they all must be done with special hygienic precautions in mind. Nobody likes this, and nobody wants to put this cloud over any celebration, but this is life right now. Lives literally depend on everyone following rules. Deniers of science, and defiance because of God given “rights” to gather and assemble can and will cause very serious problems for people around and with them, and in this case, far beyond. Every single one of us has a responsibility to not only keep ourselves safe, but to also keep everyone around us safe. We all have this huge responsibility for each other.
According to witnesses, rules were broken. Distancing, face masks, and and other mandated precautions were not consistently followed. The State rule is that 50, NOT 65, people or fewer are allowed for inside gatherings at any venue. The reception venue was cited and warned, but it remains open. There has been no citation for the Church, yet.
As a result of this celebration, 60 people in the Millinocket region have been infected, one woman has died, and 2 others have been hospitalized. Beyond Millinocket, there have been 2 related satellite outbreaks, one in at the York, County Sheriffs department (18 victims) and one at a nursing home in Madison (6 victims). There are primary, secondary and tertiary cases. I don’t know what they are called beyond that even though I am an RN and a certified COVID contact tracer. I really don’t want to think about “beyond that”.
So, from one person, a wedding guest, who was sick the day after the wedding, several more became ill by the 4th day after the wedding and now, 2.5 weeks later, there are at least 84 people infected if I have calculated this correctly. And it won’t stop there.
I am sad for every single one of those infected. The suffering and fear must be overwhelming.
Consider this. If the celebrating guests followed just one of the rules, like wearing masks ,could all of this suffering have been avoided. Certainly a talented seamstress could have made some snazzy wedding masks. We will never know, but my guess is that YES, it could have prevented this. In fact, I believe that if ALL the mandates had been followed that this outbreak was 100% preventable.
There was no evil intent in what has happened ‘up home’. There was irresponsibility and selfishness. However, some things that are emerging from this disaster are enraging. Others are heartbreaking. I have spent the past week talking with friends and family from home. I have absorbed their fear, pain, and frustration. One person in particular has suffered immeasurable worry and pain. Two of his relatives have been infected and the results tragic. At the same time he is obligated to be in a different state because his business was impacted because of COVID. I can’t imagine the pain or frustration. An he and his family is just one of the many who are hurting. I am working very hard to encourage all of these people, who have been so horribly affected, to share their stories with all of us through reporters and social media. Their stories teach us all things about keeping ourselves and our own family’s safe.

All of the above information was found on his personal FB page (now purged) and /or his school’s and church’s webpage (some information still exists).
Going forward we need to use the philosophy of lessons learned, lessons taught. Every single one of us has to take what we have learned from this outbreak, and use it to be responsible for our own, and our community’s safety. We will all be happy to see this pandemic behind us so we can have a change of subject. We can talk about the beauty around us, and awesome people again. Most of that is still around us.
https://www.facebook.com/calvarybaptistmaine demonstrates how busy Rev Bell was for 2 weeks after his exposure
https://wgme.com/news/local/two-maine-school-closed-due-to-flu
Brilliant. Nice bit of writing. Pastor should be humble enough to quarantine. Egos need to stand down until we get this virus under control.
Thank you, Kathy! Well written!
Hey Kathy…..exquisitely and honestly written. THanks for sharing the facts. Those of us in So. Maine are getting what we can from this, so…thanks for making it shareable.
It is sad when people believe in god rather than science. God is a fairytale! The Bible is a novel!
I stay home as much as possible and when I need to go out I always wear a mask. This is just decency. The pastors arrogance is just so damaging to humanity. It is only sad when people behave in this matter.
@Bill Luth
Thank you for your comment. And thank you for working to stay safe and protect others. However, I did not write this to condemn religion or the faithful. I wrote it to point out irresponsible and arrogant behavior. It is also about lessons learned or that should have been learned. I would have written something similar about any other public figure. I admire people with great faith and I appreciate and love real Christians who are generous, kind and considerate. I just wanted to make that clear.
Kathy, I found his previous plane : https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N2105B (its the one in his photo on his blog (archived, in case he deletes it https://web.archive.org/web/20200828125901/https://calvaryofsanford.blogspot.com/ ) If you happen to get the the registration for his New plane, you cna track where its been on flight aware as well.
I’m honored that you like my photo of Millinocket so much that you want to use it on your blog post. But, it’s a violation of federal copyright laws to use ANY photo without first asking permission. (I’m talking about the one you’ve labeled “MILLINOCKET FACING MOUNT KATAHDIN”) Please contact me via my email today and we can discuss the prices I charge for using my photos. Thanks.
Wonderful piece of intelligent, fact based writing! Thank You
@Michele Stapleton
I apologize and I have removed that photo. I did not see that it was copyrighted, and it was a mistake. I actually found a similar photo in my own pictures so I have managed to put that on my post. I’m sorry about my mistake.
Kathy would like to share this so all my friends can read this–wonderful job Kathy. The woman that Died was our Aunt and our Uncle is still hospitalized due to Covid.
@Bill Luth
It’s up to the individual whether either god or science is ‘a fairytale’.
IMO, the failures of insight belong to the individual, not to god or science.
Many people are careful believers in both.
You should check out some of the reddit discussions about this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Maine/comments/igtj2e/big_moose_inn_covid_wedding_public_statement_by/
thank-you Kathy this info is all true. Im the Noddin from the noddins flower shop on Penobscot ave for 30 years–retired now-yes Chip is our cousin–such a sad time for this area right now. I put this on my timeline so all my family and friends can read this.
Hi Kathy, this is a great blog post. Wanted to alert you to some new information coming out about this case with the wedding:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Maine/comments/ilbok6/wedding_guest_responds_to_her_public_statement/