18 family members catch COVID-19 after holiday party in Pennsylvania

Eighteen members of the same family contracted coronavirus after one of them threw a holiday party despite showing symptoms beforehand.

The family’s nightmare began on the morning of December 26 in Milmont Park, Pa., When Darlene Reynolds, 55, woke up with a sore throat.

The slight irritation couldn’t have come at a worse time, as Reynolds prepared to welcome relatives from as far away as Canada the next day, she told WPVI this week.

Reynolds apparently knew this could be a symptom of COVID-19, so she continued to watch for her other signs on her own.

“I didn’t have a fever because I kept checking – no fever, no fever, no fever. I said, “I’m going to keep my distance since I have a very small cough,” she said.

The party went as planned, and soon after, other family members began to fall ill from what was to turn out to be a very common occurrence.

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Reynolds said she and her loved ones were initially unaware they had COVID-19, suspecting it could be the flu instead.

But when they went to get tested, the coronavirus was confirmed to be the culprit.

“My husband tested positive the next day. So what [my daughter] was getting sick and she tested positive, and my son tested positive, ”Reynolds said.

A total of 18 parents – aged 1 to 62 – ended up testing positive for the virus, she said.

Her son Luke and her husband Stephen developed cases so severe that they ended up in hospital.

Luke was released on Monday, Reynolds announced in a cheerful Facebook post, but Stephen is still sick of coming home.

“He’s headed in the right direction. He will need oxygen when he gets home, ‘Reynolds’ daughter Joy Purdie told WPVI.

To make matters worse, Stephen’s company, Mini Movers, was unable to take jobs after his truck broke down, leaving the family with no income to cover hospital bills.

But the family received a helping hand when a woman named Lisa Riggin caught wind of their story on Facebook and began asking other members of the small community to join her in providing financial support.

Riggin has set up Venmo and PayPal accounts which have so far raised $ 4000 for the cause.

“The truck has been broken down for a month and they have no income and I just don’t want to see them lose their home or their business,” Riggin told WPVI.

“People donate, not as much as I would like, but people are responding. We had a guy last night who donated $ 500. He doesn’t even know me or her.

The story of the Reynolds family has come to light as America’s recent devastating spike in coronavirus cases – which experts say has been fueled by travel and vacation gatherings – appears to be easing slightly.

As of noon Tuesday, more than 24 million cases and 399,008 deaths have been confirmed in the United States. Of those, 777,186 cases and 19,467 deaths came from Pennsylvania, according to the state health department.

Almost every state has seen a drop in the number of people testing positive in the past seven days, with the exception of Maine, South Carolina and Virginia, all of which are on the rise. Three states – Delaware, New Jersey and Texas – report no change.

Daily new cases also fell from a high of 283,204 on Jan.8 to 137,885 on Tuesday, Jan.19 – a 51% drop in 11 days. The seven-day moving average of 200,407 is the lowest of that figure since the new year.

However, Dr Anthony Fauci has warned that masks and social distancing are not going anywhere anytime soon and the nation may have to prepare for the fact that COVID-19 is here to stay.

“We have to make that a possibility. We have to be prepared for this, ” Fauci told the National Desk on Tuesday.

“Right now, we are fortunate to have an extremely effective vaccine for the strain currently circulating in our own country. We may need to make some changes, as new and different strains arrive.

The country’s leading infectious disease specialist says normalcy can only happen when the majority of the country is vaccinated.

“ When we get the country to be 70% to 85% vaccinated, and we get this herd immunity blanket or umbrella so that the level of the virus is so low in society that it doesn’t really threaten anyone, then we can start to come up on the stringency of public health measures, ”Fauci said.

“At the end of the day, if you get the vaccine, you can’t throw away the masks because you could get infected and eventually infect others.

Only 14.7 million Americans were vaccinated against COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, and only about 54% of vaccine doses distributed to states were given to people, according to Bloomberg data.