WINDHAM, New Hampshire — State officials have urged residents in New Hampshire to stay away from events at a Windham church while officials are investigating a potential COVID-19 outbreak.
As of Saturday, 16 people who have attended events hosted at Windham's Crossing Life Church have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a release from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. That includes a YouthStorm camp event from July 16-18.
"We do know that there has been at least a case that has been associated with that particular event," Beth Daly, chief of the DHHS Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, told WMUR on Friday.
Senior Pastor Shawn Foster told WMUR that the church has been aware of the situation and those involved are taking extra precautions.
"Even if they didn't have symptoms but they had contact with someone, they quarantined. And that happened for about three weeks. So we were all just excited to get back together and actually have a service with a full worship team and everything because everyone was going to come out of quarantine," Foster told WMUR.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu extended New Hampshire's state of emergency through September 1st, Saturday morning.
New Hampshire has reported more cases than Maine on a consistent basis since the beginning of the pandemic. Right now, the New Hampshire CDC says there have been 6,779 COVID-19 cases so far. NH officials report they have had 419 people die with COVID-19 and 5,995 Hew Hampshire residents have recovered.
The New Hampshire DHHS will host a testing event Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the church for anyone who may have been exposed. To register for the event, call 603-271-5980 on Saturday or Sunday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
At NEWS CENTER Maine, we're focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the illness. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: /coronavirus
NEWS CENTER Maine YouTube Coronavirus Playlist