Earlier in the pandemic, new outbreaks of the coronavirus were centered in nursing homes, prisons and meatpacking plants. Now clusters of outbreaks are emerging in bars and churches as the country enters a new phase of the pandemic, The New York Times reports.
According to a June 23 Times analysis, cases have increased in 26 states in the last two weeks.
In Baton Rouge, La., about 100 people tested positive for the new coronavirus after visiting bars, and in Las Vegas, a handful of employees from casinos, restaurants and hotels have tested positive. A church is the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak in Oregon, sickening more than 200 people, and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said that six outbreaks in the state are linked to churches.
As states reopen and social gatherings grow, the virus is spreading in areas that escaped the worst spikes in April, including Texas and Arizona.
Public health experts are keeping a close eye on social gatherings that could become "super spreader" events, that is, events that result in widespread transmission of the coronavirus. Funerals and birthday parties were the super spreaders in the pandemic's initial stages.
"The characteristic of this virus — and this is what makes it so difficult to control — is that you do not necessarily have uniform spreading," Arnold S. Monto, MD, a professor of epidemiology and global public health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, told the Times. "It's erratic."
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