More than 12 Texan family members tested positive for COVID-19 after small reunion

• 15 family members in Arlington, Texas said they tested positive for the coronavirus after a small birthday, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and WFFA reported.
• Relatives urged the public not to “be like my family and ignore CDC guidelines” in a video that was posted to the City of Arlington’s Twitter account.
• The family’s warning comes before Thanksgiving, which is usually a time when families get together. TThe CDC recommends against traveling while on vacation in the United States in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
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More than a dozen family members in Arlington, Texas said they tested positive for the coronavirus following a small birthday gathering, according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Alexa Aragonez told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that a dozen of her family members gathered for a small indoor birthday party in early November. She herself did not attend the party, but said the family had gathered to celebrate a relative’s birthday, according to The Star-Telegram.

After the rally, a few members “felt sick” and all of the family decided to get tested for the coronavirus, Aragonez told WFFA. 15 family members – the 12 party attendees and three others – have tested positive for the coronavirus, The Star-Telegram reported. Aragonez’s mother was the only member who was hospitalized, WFFA reported.

“We took every precaution except for the rally,” Aragonez told WFFA. “We would like to share the message that you are not immune. Your family is not immune. But by staying home you can prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Members of the Aragonez family shared a video via the City of Arlington’s Twitter account, asking the public to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Please don’t be like my family and ignore CDC guidelines,” Aragonez said.

The message came as several states tightened restrictions on travel and gatherings ahead of the US holiday season and the United States experiences a record increase in coronavirus infections. According to a recent national survey, nearly 40% of Americans plan to hold Thanksgiving gatherings with at least 10 people.

U.S. infectious disease expert Dr.Anthony Fauci, whose own children will not visit him on Thanksgiving to protect the 70-year-old from the virus, and CDC director Robert Redfield have warned that small indoor gatherings lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country. The CDC recommends that people organize gatherings outside if possible.

—City of Arlington (@CityOfArlington) November 20, 2020

Notably, more than 50% of coronavirus transmission comes from asymptomatic people, according to the CDC. Fauci warned that “innocent events such as groups of friends and family gatherings indoors due to the cold weather for dinner are emerging as a major source of asymptomatic spread,” as previously reported. reported Morgan McFall-Johnsen of Business Insider.

“These innocent gatherings of family and friends: six, eight, ten people get together at someone’s house, you get an asymptomatic and infected person, then all of a sudden four or five people in this gathering get infected,” Fauci said. last month. . “This is the exact scenario you’re going to see on Thanksgiving.”

“The tragedy that could happen is that one of your family members, after getting together at this family reunion, could actually end up hospitalized and seriously ill and die,” the coronavirus incident manager said. from the CDC last week, previously reported Business Insider’s Hillary Brueck.

As the White House Coronavirus Task Force showed last week, coronavirus outbreaks sweep the country as the United States passes a total of 12 million confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Johns University Hopkins.