One of the thousands of people who visited Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, over Memorial Day weekend has tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the local health department to issue an advisory.
“Camden County Health Department has been notified of a Boone County resident who has tested positive for Covid-19 after being in the Lake area on May 23 & 24,” the department wrote Friday night on Facebook. “The case arrived here on Saturday and developed illness on Sunday, so was likely incubating illness and possibly infectious at the time of the visit. Due to the need to inform mass numbers of unknown people, we are publicly releasing the following timeline, which was provided by the case. Investigation is in progress by Boone County Health Department, with Lake Area Health Departments assisting with local contacts. There have been no cases reported in Camden County residents this week.”
According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, “The person, who is not identified by age or sex, was at the Blackwater Jack's ‘Zero Ducks to Give' party that drew national and international attention to Missouri for the large numbers who lounged at close quarters.”
After videos of the massive crowds at Lake of the Ozarks went viral on social media, the St. Louis County Department of Health issued a general advisory earlier this week.
“The St. Louis County Department of Health is urging everyone who was there this weekend and ignored social distancing guidelines to self-quarantine for two weeks or until they have been tested and the result comes back negative,” KMOV4 reported.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson denounced what she saw in the videos: “Now, these folks will be coming home to St. Louis and counties all over Missouri and the Midwest, raising concerns about the potential of more positive cases, hospitalizations, and tragically, deaths. It's just deeply disturbing.”