A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal. Now dozens of members have COVID-19 and two are dead

[mfcorey1]

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — With the coronavirus quickly spreading in Washington state in early March, leaders of the Skagit Valley Chorale debated whether to go ahead with weekly rehearsal.

The virus was already killing people in the Seattle area, about an hour’s drive to the south.

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But Skagit County hadn’t reported any cases, schools and business remained open, and prohibitions on large gatherings had yet to be announced.

On March 6, Adam Burdick, the choir’s conductor, informed the 121 members in an email that amid the “stress and strain of concerns about the virus,” practice would proceed as scheduled at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church.

“I’m planning on being there this Tuesday March 10, and hoping many of you will be, too,” he wrote.

Sixty singers showed up. A greeter offered hand sanitizer at the door, and members refrained from the usual hugs and handshakes.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-choir-decided-to-go-ahead-with-rehearsal-now-dozens-of-members-have-covid-19-and-two-are-dead/ar-BB11Tjim?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[In_The_Wind]

1. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[LisaL]

5. What are people told to this day?

Wash your hands, use hand sanitizes, masks don't help, stand 6 ft from each other.
Members of the choir were following those guidelines.

[In_The_Wind]

8. How many were less than 6 feet apart?

[greenjar_01]

10. Belting out songs in any proximity or closed space seems like remarkably poor judgment

Everyone becomes a droplet spreading machine.

[magicarpet]

12. They think the virus is as big as a brick,..

Think aerosols and nanoparticles.

[RhodeIslandOne]

22. 60 people in anything other than a huge auditorium is still too close.

Maybe we are realizing that now.

[tanyev]

2. Sad.

I can see where the more forceful exhalations and inhalations of singing would spread a virus very efficiently. Another reason why these churches that continue to have in person services are playing with fire.

[LisaL]

7. Yep.

It spreads by air.

[dailytroubadour]

14. Exactly

All that air moving in and out of the lungs. Why don't these people use their brains?

[customerserviceguy]

27. This is a chorale group

Nothing to so with a church. They just thought they were far away enough from the epicenter in Kirkland to be safe for now. Being as Mount Vernon is just an easy two hour drive from north Seattle, that was an erroneous assumption.

[tanyev]

30. I get that.

What I'm saying is that the likelihood that singing exacerbated the effect of the virus on this group, who made a good effort to keep distance between each other, should send a very serious message to the church groups that are still meeting in person.

[customerserviceguy]

31. I've re-read that

and I see that now. But others on this thread saw the word "choir" and assumed this was another church/magical thinking thing.

[captain queeg]

3. March 10 I was still doing some stuff

Looking back I had gone to a meeting that day. I was starting to be careful about not shaking hands and washing my hands. It’s surprising this took so long to become apparent with that crowd.

[luvs2sing]

11. I was paying attention to it, but..

my cousin had a terrible accident on March 9. I was with her and the family (many from out of state) until the funeral on the 14th. We were all in shock, and everyone was hugging and not maintaining any social distance. I really didn’t even realize the stores had been cleaned out till I got on social media after the funeral. We had a lot of catching up to do quickly!

[RhodeIslandOne]

23. I was in an arena with 9000 people on the 6th and 8th

I was using the hand sanitizer and washing my hands but not like I do now. In hindsight it seems foolish.

[jberryhill]

26. I did our long-term shopping on the 7th

And told my assistant to work from home.

[magicarpet]

4. I got the virus for Jesus..

Surely I will be going to heaven to be with Jesus now.

JCAM !

[dalton99a]

6. When you see someone singing or shouting, RUN

[magicarpet]

13. Especially if they are fanatically yapping about their higher power and God's Devine will.

[luvs2sing]

9. Incredible. The choir I sing in..

shut down on March 3. We have programs in a lot of organizations that serve high-risk populations in addition to most of us being older. I’m grateful they made that decision.

[CentralMass]

15. Wasn't this before calls for social distancing really started in the U..S. ?

[LAS14]

16. An idea for the next time?

"Linsey Marr, an environmental engineer at Virginia Tech and an expert on airborne transmission of viruses, said some people happen to be especially good at exhaling fine material, producing 1,000 times more than others."

For years we've been told that these novel virus outbreaks are going to get more frequent. I forget why. But I wonder if there's a simple test for "super exhalation," and that everyone could get tested and know their rating like you know your blood type. Then those people would be the highest priority for testing for the new virus.

I also think many physicians should get minimal training in running a respirator, with re-training every couple of years (or whatever is reasonable) so when hospitals are driven to calling on people outside of the ICU, they have some chance of it working.

[LAS14]

17. They were doing everything they'd been advised to do. We just..

.... didn't understand the possiblities of forcing out aerosol from singing.

[tavernier]

18. Before we all start getting Holier Than Thou,

think back to the start of this. No one was as prepared as should be. Now if people today are still making excuses, then that’s just negligence.

[Indykatie]

19. A Choir With 121 People IS Shocking to Me - Do Presbyterians Have Mega Churches?

[captain queeg]

20. Does sound like a lot though only 60 showed up

I’m thinking it’s families. Mt Vernon isn’t very big

[KY_EnviroGuy]

25. Most likely an assemblage of choirs from several churches....

that get together periodically for fun or to put on a show.

During my youth in the South (TN), our Baptist churches would hold periodic "singings" where interested members of all churches in that county would assemble at one host church on a Sunday afternoon to sign together.

KY.........

[Marrah_Goodman]

21. This is due to lack of leadership from Washington

I knew this was coming in January when things heated up in China. If "I" knew this was coming then you can be damned sure that the epidemiologists were sounding the alarm. But like in every disaster movie, the politicians refused to listen to the scientists.

[crickets]

24. +1

[gopiscrap]

28. I am the chair of the

Tacoma Refugee Choir and my excecutive director and I made the decision on Mar 4 to cancel all future rehearsals and go virtual so glad we did

[gopiscrap]

29. Last major things I did was a Bernie Sanders rally with 20K

and led some worship service for 500+ on Ash Wednesday