A large family party in Northern California has left at least 12 people stricken with COVID-19, most with symptoms, Shasta County health officials report.
A man in his 20s who attended the party several weeks ago later tested positive for the coronavirus, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
County health officials advised 20 people who had been at the party to self-quarantine, but 12 have since come down with COVID-19, according to the publication. None have been hospitalized.
“We still need to be careful about how we interact here in Shasta County,” said Kerri Schuette with the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency, KRCR reported.
“When you are sick, it’s really important to stay home,” Schuette said, according to the station. “The disease is transmitted from person to person so if you are ill and you go to a gathering of some sort and you are around other people, those other people are at risk of catching the COVID-19 from you.”
Shasta County has had 88 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with three people hospitalized and four deaths, according to the county. Health officials say the coronavirus risk is high.
The Northern California county, which includes the city of Redding, has a population of about 180,000.
More than 9.2 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 478,000 deaths as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 2.3 million confirmed cases with more than 121,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has issued a mandatory face mask order in the state, where COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising, The Sacramento Bee reported.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 7:34 AM.