Death toll linked to Maine wedding rises to SEVEN after nursing home patient who did not attend the reception dies - and cases connected to the nuptials soar to 176

At least seven people have died from coronavirus in an outbreak linked to a Maine wedding, including a nursing home patient who did not attend the reception. 

Maine officials say that 176 COVID-19 cases have emerged related to the August 7 wedding that violated state guidelines. 

The latest death was reported at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine, a spokesman for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Five other deaths also connected to the wedding were reported there.

An 88-year-old woman linked to the wedding also died at a hospital in the Millinocket area on August 21.

None of the people who died attended the wedding or reception itself.  

The wedding is now linked to outbreaks at the Maplecrest nursing home and the York county jail, both located more than 100 miles away from the venue, affecting people who made secondary or tertiary contact with an attendee.  

On August 7 a wedding ceremony took place indoors at the Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket and the reception was held at the Big Moose Inn Cabins and Campground in Millinocket . Now seven deaths and 176 COVID-19 cases are linked to the gathering

Six of the seven COVID-19 deaths linked to the August wedding happened at Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine  

The ceremony took place indoors at the Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket and the reception was held at the Big Moose Inn Cabins and Campground in Millinocket.

In total about 65 people attended the event – which violated Gov. Janet Mills' executive order limiting indoor gatherings to 50 people.

One of the wedding attendees was an employee at the York County Jail, where 72 cases have emerged and been linked to the wedding, officials say.

At the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center six people have died, all of them residents of the facility and none of them attended the wedding or reception, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC. 

The center also has 39 active COVID-19 cases linked to the wedding - at least 24 residents and 15 workers.

Officials say that an employee of the facility lives in the same household as a person who attended the wedding.

The only death to take place outside the facility was 88-year-old Theresa Dentremont who died at Millinocket Regional Hospital on August 21 after contracting the virus.

Detremont did not attend the wedding, but hospital staff believed she may have been infected by someone who did.  

Officials said Theresa Detremont did not attend the Millinocket wedding before she was infected

At York County Jail 72 cases have been linked to the August wedding 

Now the state is investigating whether an outbreak at Calvary Baptist Church, whose pastor Todd Bell officiated the wedding, is linked to the wedding. That church is tied to at least 10 cases.

The church said that some of its members attended the wedding reception. 

Despite the outbreak, the church said it will continue to hold services and is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus. 

'The Calvary Baptist Church has a legal right to meet. The authority of a local Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a Muslim mosque to gather for their respective religious services is a time-honored part of our nation´s history since its inception,' a statement said. 

'These religious activities are also fully protected under the First Amendment to our United States Constitution,' the statement added. 

Pastor Bell is a big critic of the government's attempt to control the virus. 

Videos show that he held services at the church without social distancing.  

He hired a lawyer known nationally for defending the religious rights of churches.  

Now the state is investigating whether an outbreak at Calvary Baptist Church, in Sanford whose pastor Todd Bell officiated the wedding, is linked to the wedding. That church is tied to at least 10 cases

Pastor Todd Bell has continued to hold in-person services at Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine, even after he officiated a wedding that was linked to cases and deaths

The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer. 

Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.

'Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and I'm asking everyone else to share in that concern. COVID-19, right now, is not on the other side of the fence. It is in our yards,' Shah said. 

'The gains that Maine has made against COVID-19 are ones that could, and unfortunately can, be washed away.'

Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long said the agency's investigations suggest 'multiple potential points of transmission related to the August 7 wedding and reception.'

The agency is working to limit the spread of the virus and support people affected by it, he said.

Shah said the state's percent positivity rate has ticked up to 0.63 percent for the previous seven days. 

At one point, the rate was less than half a percentage point. The rate remains well below the national average of about 5 percent, Shah said.