Party Zero: How a Soiree in Connecticut Became a 'Super Spreader' (NYT)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-westport-connecticut-party-zero.htmlParty Zero: How a Soirée in Connecticut Became a ‘Super Spreader’
About 50 people gathered this month for a party in the upscale suburb of Westport, then scattered across the region and the world, taking the coronavirus with them.
By Elizabeth Williamson and Kristin Hussey
March 23, 2020
About 50 guests gathered on March 5 at a home in the stately suburb of Westport, Conn., to toast the hostess on her 40th birthday and greet old friends, including one visiting from South Africa. They shared reminiscences, a lavish buffet and, unknown to anyone, the coronavirus.
Then they scattered.
The Westport soirée — Party Zero in southwestern Connecticut and beyond — is a story of how, in the Gilded Age of money, social connectedness and air travel, a pandemic has spread at lightning speed. The partygoers — more than half of whom are now infected — left that evening for Johannesburg, New York City and other parts of Connecticut and the United States, all seeding infections on the way.
Westport, a town of 28,000 on the Long Island Sound, did not have a single known case of the coronavirus on the day of the party. It had 85 on Monday, up more than 40-fold in 11 days.
At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut said that 415 people in the state were infected, up from 327 on Sunday night. Ten people have died. Westport, with less than 1 percent of the state’s population, now makes up more than one-fifth of its Covid-19 infections, with 85 cases. Fairfield County, where Westport is, has 270 cases, 65 percent of the state’s total.
The visitor from Johannesburg — a 43-year-old businessman, according to a report from South Africa — fell ill on his flight home, spreading the virus not only in the country but possibly to fellow passengers. The party guests attended other gatherings. They went to work at jobs throughout the New York metropolitan area. Their children went to school and day care, soccer games and after-school sports.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...a little chapter all your own when the story of this plague is written. It can even be carved on a bunch of gravestones.
Via The Hartford Courant......
Party zero: How a soirée in Connecticut became a coronavirus ‘super spreader’
By Elizabeth Williamson and Kristin Hussey
The New York Times |
Mar 23, 2020 | 6:05 PM
Read it here: https://www.courant.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-nyt-coronavirus-connecticut-super-spreader-20200323-akznc44v4zhhzpajkmb7w6kftq-story.html#nt=tertiarynavbar&nt=ticker
(snip)
At noon that day, town and county health officials convened a coronavirus forum at the Westport Library. About 60 people attended, and many others watched on Facebook. When asked whether people, especially Westport’s many older residents, should follow federal government guidance and avoid large gatherings, officials were sanguine.
“It is not out in our community that we’re aware of yet,” said Mark A.R. Cooper, the director of the Westport Weston Health District. “Give it some thought, but again, your risk is low.
A moderator next passed the microphone to an older man. “How many test kits do we have in Westport now?” he asked. “Zero,” Cooper replied. “None. They’re not available.” Three days later, on March 11, Cooper got a phone call: A South African businessman who had stopped in Westport for a party had fallen ill on the plane home to Johannesburg.
KY.............
I was showing some symptoms that may or may not have been the Coronavirus. But at first, I thought it might be allergies or a cold. However, to err on the side of caution, I self isolated. By March 7th, I had a full-blown case of whatever it was. By way of phone and email, doctor did say it could have been Coronavirus. And to continue to self isolate!
I wonder how many of these idiots, who gathered on March 5th, in a room full of 50 or so people, may have had something that felt like a cold or an allergy? Or maybe they felt a little achy or had a headache?
Did any of them think, for even a second, that maybe they should have avoided that party and stayed home to self isolate? Just to err on the side of caution.
Hell no. That would actually be caring about other people, instead of being totally selfish. And then off they go, living their lives, and infecting Heaven only knows how many people. Who will then infect others and others. And on it goes.
It was so simple for me to stay home, keep my germs to myself, and keep others safe.
I need to do this. For the one millionth time. 
