No new COVID-19 cases from massive Memorial Day parties in Missouri, health officials say

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. >> No additional cases of the new coronavirus have been reported stemming from the crowded pool parties at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks over the Memorial Day weekend, the state’s top health official said.

Camden County Health Department reported Friday that a person from Boone County who had attended the parties tested positive for the virus.

Speaking at a news conference in Jefferson City on Wednesday, Dr. Randall Williams, the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, said no more cases have been uncovered since, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Social media postings of the event showed large crowds of mostly young people without masks and not adhering to social distancing guidelines at pools along the central Missouri lake that is a popular weekend getaway spot. The pictures and video of crowds at the lake prompted a public outcry and led health officials to urge anyone who attended the parties to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Officials have been trying to trace anyone who may have come into contact with the one person who has tested positive, releasing a brief timeline of their whereabouts including stops at a bar called Backwater Jacks, a bar and restaurant that has a pool, as well as a dining and pool venue called Shady Gators and Lazy Gators.

For some infected people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe illness or death. But for most people, it causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks.

Missouri on Wednesday reported 192 additional positive cases, bringing the state’s total to nearly 13,800, and three additional deaths, increasing the toll to 786.