First Confirmed COVID-19 Case Post-Pool Party in the Ozarks

Screengrab from tweet by Scott Pasmore of KTVK-3TV

Remember last weekend (was it just last weekend?) when everyone hit the fainting couch over Memorial Day revelers being decidedly socially-non-distant in a pool at the Lake of the Ozarks? RedState’s Bonchie covered that story here: Melt Down Ensues After People Go Swimming at Lake of the Ozarks.

Well, in news that should come as a shock to exactly no one, yesterday, it was announced that a person who’d been part of all that partying has tested positive for COVID-19. (While national news headlines were focused primarily on the George Floyd case and the protests-morphing-into-riots across the country, the local news outlets all scrambled to throw up their implicit “See? We TOLD you!!1!” reactions to the announcement.)

As Fox2Now reported:

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — Remember that Lake of the Ozarks crowd over the Memorial Day Weekend? One of the people who was there later tested positive for COVID-19 according to the Camden County Health Department.

The Health Department says this person was possibly infectious and likely incubating the illness at the time they were at the lake.

Well, yes. Chances are this individual already had the bug at the time of the splash-fest if he/she has already been tested and confirmed to have it. Of course, given the timeline, this makes it unlikely the person picked up the virus during last weekend’s partying. The question, of course, will be whether he or she shared it while there.

Officials helpfully provided a list of our pool-going patient’s itinerary while at the Lake last weekend:

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Backwater Jacks: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Shady Gators and Lazy Gators Pool: 5:40 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Backwater Jacks 9:40 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Sunday, May 24

Buffalo Wild Wings: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Shady Gators: 2:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. -7 p.m.
Taxi from Shady Gators to private residence around 7 p.m.

Sounds like he/she had a busy weekend! Let’s hope all the sun and chlorine helped deter this person from becoming a transmission vector and we don’t shortly see this turn into a “superspreader” event.

Thus far, Missouri’s holding steady post-re-open.