This Long Island country club was fined $17,000 for a wedding that led to COVID-19 cases

A Long Island country club received a $17,000 fine for hosting a wedding that led to 30 cases of COVID-19, CNN reports.

The North Fork Country Club received the fine after it violated a New York state order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has banned nonessential gatherings of 50 people.

• The wedding had 90 guests on Oct. 17.
• 30 of those guests tested positive for COVID-19.
• 159 of the guests’ close contacts now have to quarantine over the issue.
• The country club received an extra $2,000 fine for violating a sanitary code. The specifics of the fine were not released.

Reaction:

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said the country will trace the potential spread of the virus from the wedding.

• “This type of blatant disregard for the well-being of others is not only extremely disappointing — it will not be tolerated,” he said, according to CNN. “We have literally come too far here.”

Bigger picture

For months, experts have warned that family gatherings can lead to the spread of the novel coronavirus. This can be small social gatherings and larges ones as well, like weddings.

• For example, a wedding in Maine led to a spread of coronavirus, too. The wedding led to seven deaths related to COVID-19 for people who never even attended the wedding, as i wrote about for Deseret News.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a recent call with U.S. governors that family parties are, in part, to blame for the recent spread of COVID-19, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.

• “In the public square, we’re seeing a higher degree of vigilance and mitigation steps in many jurisdictions. But what we’re seeing as the increasing threat right now is actually acquisition of infection through small household gatherings. Particularly with Thanksgiving coming up, we think it’s really important to stress the vigilance of these continued mitigation steps in the household setting.”