At the end of the ceremony, people flocked to the Big Moose Inn at the Sandwich Lodge and Rest Restaurant between Ambajejus and Milinacet Lakes. Each guest checked his temperature at the door, and once cleaned, went inside the feast on rib eye and duck, toasted the couple, and danced for hours. A few from 62 weddings and receptions Attendees wore masks.
Twenty-five miles away from the festival, Frank and Theresa Dentremont laid a wreath in a wooden cabin near Cedar Lake in their sleep. Elderly Milinocate natives have spent most of the past four months living alone in a house that Frank has been constantly renovating over the years, first drawing it to the electrical grid and recently installing skylights. Friends stopped food and a caregiver to take care of Theresa, whose health had deteriorated in recent years. At age 97 and At 83, the couple qualified as high risk for coronavirus infection And were not taking any chances.
Still, the epidemic, in many ways, seemed like a distant event – mostly confined to cities like Boston, five hours south and lack of space and millennial quiet. Just about In the last six months, 150 people have been infected in the neighboring countries of Penobascot and Piskavis. Milinacet itself did not report a case.
“The town basically had no experience with it,” said Frank Boynt, superintendent of Millennial schools.
One celebration will change everything. The virus was spreading through the community, and beyond. One day after the ceremony the stranger conveyed the feeling of symptoms to the wedding guest. Some others fell ill within four days, according to state officials. Overall, about half of the attendees, All those between the ages of 4 and 78 will be tested positive. By then, the effect of this well-known wave had already gone far beyond the Big Moose Inn.
Over the next three weeks, the virus entered the pre-Millennial school system. It will jump 220 miles down toward the county jail. He works to move to a rehabilitation center 100 miles from the wedding venue. And she broke into the separate Cedar Lake cabin of the Dentremonts.
One area that was almost completely unaffected by the global epidemic was suddenly a hot spot, the largest eruption to date in Maine. With the wedding making international headlines, those who attended, including the bride and groom, calmed down, many of their social media profiles turned private. They The Globe did not respond to requests for comment.
Theresa Dentremont, a longtime resident of the area, died on August 21, two weeks after the marriage, at the Milinacet Regional Hospital after a brief battle with Covid-19. It would hardly have merged with the outside world. Also Authorities said she fell ill after coming in contact with an infected wedding guest. Her stepfather told the Globe that they did not want to speculate about the origin. It is the only death associated with marriage. Her husband, Frank Dentremont, was hospitalized two days later with the disease. The World War II veteran, who endured the Bulge War and worked at the Milinacet Paper Mill for 35 years, is on a course of oxygen and antiviral drug therapy, according to his son.
Frank Denremont Jr.
As of Friday, Maine authorities had linked 123 positive cases to the August Gust 7 wedding, with the quarter being labeled as a third-degree case, meaning they were infected by someone who attended the wedding. On Saturday, the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it was also investigating an outbreak at Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, 225 miles away, where Todd Bell, a pastor, presided over the wedding. There have been at least five confirmed cases of coronavirus among people affiliated with the church, the CDC said.
“What we deal with is a huge tube of glitter. You open a glitter tube in your basement, then two weeks later you are in the attic and all you see is glitter and no idea how it got there, ”Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC, said in a briefing on Tuesday. .
The outbreak has affected two towns along the river Milinaket and East Milinaket, which sit in the shadow of Mount Counthdin and were destroyed by the closure of twin paper mills, 2008 and 2014. One of the 228 coronavirus cases reported in Penobascot County last week. .
The results affect almost every aspect of life: Millennial Regional Hospital has postponed all alternative surgeries and postponed all appointments and procedures that could be safely postponed. Local Alex Lodge has closed and banks and credit unions have closed their lobbies. The Millennial Town Hall is closed to the public. Schools have also had to change their plans.
Eric Steve, superintendent of East Millennial Schools, woke up a week after the wedding with a headache and a cold. As a result of the stress behind the school, he denied the symptoms. Steves can see Big Moose in from his porch, but he did not attend the wedding, and he is not a member of the Tri-Town Baptist Church.
“It simply came to our notice then [coronavirus] Was not really [had] There’s a lot of impact, “Steves said. “There was a lethargy in our whole area.”
Indeed, the state marked Penobascot County as “greenery,” meaning there was a lower risk of covid-19 and students could potentially return to school. Milinaket’s solitude and self-sufficiency seemed to take him away from the dangers of the epidemic. But after marriage, it became clear that in small towns built on close personal connections, those qualities could also be dangerous.
A man hired to provide entertainment at the wedding also worked as a teacher at East Millennials. Some school staff were moving in and out of school buildings in preparation for the fall, and in the days following the wedding, community members gathered for a school board meeting.
A week later he began to experience symptoms, the test confirmed that the sweeteners were covid-positive. A total of six East Milinocet school staff and two students have confirmed the infection, Steves said. The school board, which is facing increasing cases, unanimously voted this past week to delay the start of school for a week and then start remote.
A little off the road in Milinocet, officials decided to delay the start of school for two weeks. It is not yet clear how many people connected to the schools became infected Total.
Many locals are particularly concerned about the city’s aging population. The risk of serious consequences of covid infection is high in rural areas as they are prone to There is a higher rate of older population and pre-existing conditions. Frank Dentremont, who lives in Frank Spittle, was recently named the oldest resident of East Millennial.
Attempts to find contact have revealed that people hundreds of miles away were also at risk.
An outbreak at Alfred’s York County Jail, located 220 miles south of Milinacet, is believed to have been caused by an employee attending the wedding. There are 54 positive cases in jail. In those cases, 19 are There are prison staff members and 35 inmates.
Another outbreak at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center, more than 100 miles south of the wedding venue, also connected to Milinacet, where four staff members and five residents fell ill, The Maine CDC said it determined the employee had been infected by parents. Whose child had his parents. Attended the wedding.
Meanwhile, at the Big Moose Inn, the venue of the wedding reception, two staff members have tested positive. The innkeeper said the staff was infected by a source related to the wedding and they were not present at the reception night.
August. In addition to the lod૨ wedding guests by the state, the inn also gave more than 400 unauthorized clearances in the 18th state inspector’s report, after which the lodge was given a “dangerous to the state’s imminent health” notice. Guests to dine on the deck and at the bar, bringing the total business to over 100. While the staff wore masks, most of the guests did not come. The state has a 50-person limit for indoor gatherings as part of its coronavirus ban. The notice warned the inn to comply with future restrictions but allowed it to remain open.
Fred J. for the Boston Globe. Fred J. for Field / Boston Globe
According to the Maine CDC, the follow-up inspection temporarily suspended the inn’s living and dining license, but according to the Maine CDC, “it was re-established on Friday after all public health risks were cited.”
A kitchen worker who declined to be named for fear of retaliation said she only reported the incident. Infection one week after reception, via co-worker’s phone call. An uninvited guest from a wedding held at the inn on Aug Gust also told the Portland Press-Herald that he had learned of the news frenzy.
“While we are not sure if the virus has fully spread to our facility, we know that there are some things we can do better. We have given our word to the Maine CDC, and we are giving our community and our guests the same word that we will – and are doing – better. “We are updating our protocols on the advice of the Maine CDC and will keep the health and safety of our staff, community and guests as our priority,” Big Moose Inn owner Lurri Kimier said in a statement on Friday.
As soon as the news of the outbreak came, the people closest to the wedding, including the newlyweds, remained silent. Sunday services at Tri-Town Baptist Church have moved online. Many requests made by the Globe to reach the pastor, David Blessdale, have gone unanswered.
Bell, the marriage officer who heads the Calvary Baptist in Sanford, continued personal services according to his Facebook page. The CDC said anyone who went to those services, or the church’s vacation to Bible school, was likely exposed. Belle did not respond to requests for comment.
One pilot, Belle, posted a photo of herself on a small plane on August 6 with the caption: “I’m going out to marry a couple in North Maine!” Another Twitter user commented on his feed that Big Moose in Marriage has been linked to the person’s death ever since.
The pastor responds: “Proverbs 18:21 (KJV) Death and life [are] In the power of the tongue: and those who love it will eat its fruit. Know the facts before you draw conclusions … ”
Henna can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter hannaskrueger. Zoe Greenberg can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter zoegberg.
