Some people think for themselves, and some people think about themselves – only. Here’s a sadly preventable tragedy, which may still be ongoing:
Only about 65 close family members and friends were on the guest list for a bride and groom’s rustic wedding celebration in a small Maine town in early August.
But the nuptials began an outbreak now traced to more than 175 reported novel coronavirus infections and also to the deaths of seven people, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
The cluster of coronavirus infections that originated from the Big Moose Inn outside Millinocket on Aug. 7 continues to grow in Maine, state health officials said, after guests flouted social distancing and mask guidelines. Now people who have no association with the party have died, including six residents of the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah said in a news briefing Tuesday. [WaPo]
And the most responsible?
The state agency confirmed to The Post that the pastor who officiated the wedding, Todd Bell, preaches at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, which has had 10 cases traced to it. Bell has criticized coronavirus restrictions, local media reported. He could not be reached for comment.
There are many punishments possible, but perhaps the worst would be a bill for each funeral, with the suggestion that his failure to pay would be met with a murder count in each case.
Maybe it’s an empty threat. Maybe it’s not. But it should bring home to the pastor that his cowboy actions are not acceptable in today’s society.
