MILLINOCKET, Maine — The Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC) said Friday there are now 123 total COVID-19 cases associated with the Aug. 7 wedding reception in Millinocket. One person associated with the wedding outbreak died, Millinocket Regional Hospital announced on Friday.
On Tuesday, the Maine CDC linked that outbreak with two others— one at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center in Madison and the other at the York County Sheriff's Office and York County Jail.
Of the 123 cases linked to the Millinocket outbreak, nine are at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center in Madison. Five are among residents and four are among staff.
Of the 123 cases linked to the Millinocket outbreak, 54 are among people associated with the York County Jail complex. Nine are among staff members of the jail, two are among other staff members at the complex, and seven are among inmates.
Former U.S. Congressman Mike Michaud, who is now one of the selectmen in East Millinocket, said, "I hope people take this serious, and the fact that you could have it without having any symptoms is you know, you should be very concerned about who you might be giving it to."
On Tuesday during the Maine CDC coronavirus briefing, Dr. Shah explained how the outbreaks linked. He said a guest who attended the wedding infected their parent. The parent then had contact with one of their other children, who works at Maplecrest. The person who works at Maplecrest then infected five people at the facility - four residents and one staff member.
Dr. Shah said all of this unfolded in a span of about two and a half weeks.
"That's just an example of how quickly this virus can spread. From a wedding to a guest to a parent to another child to a nursing home," Dr. Shah said.
RELATED: Maine CDC: COVID-19 outbreaks in Madison and York County are linked to Millinocket wedding/reception
There are 17 people, 11 staff and six inmates, who have tested positive for COVID-19. Maine CDC says one corrections officer at the facility attended the wedding in Millinocket.
Everyone at the facility is going through a second round of testing, as required by the Maine CDC. Sheriff Bill King says he's hopeful that combined with aggressive sanitation of the building will keep the virus from spreading any further.
"Things are progressing. It's challenging, but we're stepping up to the challenge. We're not out of the woods yet," King said. "One thing that it has taught us, there's a lot of talk about it, but this is real. When it happens it happens very very quickly. It's extremely contagious. We're very surprised that it's happened so quickly here."
After this round of tests, King says a third round of testing will be completed before they are considered all clear.
The Millinocket outbreak was announced by Maine CDC on Monday, August 17.
Shah reported Thursday that Maine CDC issued an imminent health hazard citation to the Big Moose Inn. The citation notes that the inn exceeded the indoor gathering limit of 50 individuals when it hosted the wedding reception.