30 people believed to be infected with COVID-19 from Lake Park, Minn. funeral, family left sick and 'heartbroken' - INFORUM

Schindler says an estimated 30 people who attended her father's July 13 funeral in Lake Park have either tested positive for COVID-19 or are currently symptomatic.

“He had had a stroke and Parkinson’s disease, so we were losing him day by day,” Schindler said of her dad.

I knew I was taking a chance," said Keene.

Keene, who says she's hardly left the house since March when the pandemic began, says she was happy to see the church had taken precautions.

But Keene says social distancing and mask-wearing kind of "fell apart" after the service, during the burial and the coffee and donut hour.

Francis Xavier Catholic Church, said he was concerned with how closely people were standing after the service.

“I think one or two people came to the funeral not feeling well,” he said.

Schindler says she heard the first person fell ill on the Tuesday following her father's weekend funeral, then word kept spreading of more people who had been at the funeral or prayer service complaining of COVID-19 symptoms.

“I thought I was just exhausted because I was the one planning so much with the funeral, but as the days went on, I knew it was something worse,” she said.

“I think I had all of the symptoms of COVID except the rash,” Keene said of her 14-day ordeal that was like nothing she’s experienced before.

“We do have church gatherings, including funerals, among those places where we have traced recent outbreaks,” said Minnesota State Health Department Information Officer Doug Schultz when contacted about the Lake Park funeral.

“I think one of our biggest no-no’s is that we had people staying here with us and staying with my mom,” she said.

“My dad was a truck driver, and I don’t think I saw any of his truck driver friends wearing masks," said Schindler.

For her part, Keene was wearing her mask, even at the more lax social gathering after the funeral, but she admits she ignored social distancing more than she should have.

“Seeing that Hairball concert in West Fargo (last weekend) with 2,000 people, I saw one person with a mask in the picture, and it just frustrates me to no end," said Keene

“It’s important to remember that any gathering of people not of the same household, where people are not wearing masks or social distancing, is a potential source for spread of the virus,” said Schultz

LaPlante, whose church took precautions to prevent the spread, has words of advice for people who still want to gather at church or in other social spaces