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Person who partied at the Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day tests positive for coronavirus

COURTESY SHELLY YANG / KANSAS CITY STAR
                                Crowds of people gathered at Coconuts Caribbean Beach Bar & Grill in Gravois Mills, Mo., on Sunday.

COURTESY SHELLY YANG / KANSAS CITY STAR

Crowds of people gathered at Coconuts Caribbean Beach Bar & Grill in Gravois Mills, Mo., on Sunday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. >> A person who spent Memorial Day weekend at bars and pool parties at the Lake of the Ozarks tested positive for COVID-19, the Camden County, Mo., Health Department announced today.

The person, who is a Boone County, Mo., resident, arrived in the area on Saturday and became sick Sunday, the department said in a Facebook post. It is likely the person was incubating the illness and could have been infectious while they were at the Ozarks.

The person was one of hundreds of people who flocked to the regional tourist destination and attended parties that drew outrage and fear nationwide when they were caught on video showing attendees flouting social-distancing guidelines.

After the video surfaced, health officials in Kansas, St. Louis and Kansas City urged travelers returning from the region to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Now the Camden County Health Department is asking people who were at the same locations as the individual who tested positive to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and to stay home and contact their physician if they become sick.

Rather than attempt to individually contact those exposed to the positive case, the health department released a schedule of the individual’s weekend “due to the need to inform mass numbers of unknown people,” the post said.

On Saturday the person attended the “Zero Ducks Given” pool party at Backwater Jacks, one of the bars featured in the videos. Today, some tourists had come to the bar seeking similar crowds.

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