A summer wedding in Maine should serve as a reminder of the importance of following social distancing and masking guidelines, health officials have said.

After a lengthy investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials in Maine found that an August 7 reception at a lodge in a rural town led to three separate COVID-19 outbreaks. As a result, 177 people became infected with the virus, seven of whom were hospitalized. A total of seven people died.

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published November 13, the CDC said none of t
he people who got seriously ill or died even attended the wedding, and many of them lived 100 miles away.

The report revealed that the wedding reception included at least 55 people—more than the limit of 50 currently permitted at indoor gatherings in Maine. None of the COVID-19 safety guidelines were followed, so guests were seated close together and didn't socially distance or wear masks, even though signs were posted requesting that they do so. Staff members wore masks themselves, but they didn't enforce the measures among the guests. More than half of the attendees (30) later tested positive for COVID-19. And in the town itself, 27 residents tested positive after coming into contact with reception guests, and one of them died.

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But the infections and fatalities didn't end there. After the parent of a wedding guest went to work at a long-term care facility 100 miles away from the reception venue, they started an outbreak that infected 36 people and killed six. The effect spread to a corrections facility 200 miles away from the reception venue after an infected guest went to work there. This led to another COVID-19 outbreak, infecting 82 staff members and residents.

In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that signing, talking, or shouting in enclosed spaces—including wedding venues—could spread COVID-19. Weddings in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Kansas have also been linked to local coronavirus outbreaks.

It's easy to understand a wedding is considered high-risk events for COVID-19 transmission. It's typically a busy occasion, with lots of close contact, talking, and dancing. "A wedding is one of those occasions where there will be an epidemic of hugging and kissing that goes on," William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, previously told Health. "Can people try to be restrained? It's unlikely."

If you do go to a wedding, it's important to try to be as safe as possible by sticking to the basic COVID-19 rules: wear a mask, wash your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water, and stay six feet away from other people.