Delfield COVID case linked to Littlefield Lake sandbar party

One of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 following the July 4 sandbar party on Littlefield Lake was an employee of a local manfacturer, one of two employees who have tested positive for the disease.

But a company spokesman says the two cases are unrelated.

The Littlefield Lake outbreak has so far spread to 11 people, seven of them primary infections and four as secondary. A secondary infection is someone who is

infected by someone who was infected at the original event.

Despite the large number of people infected, the Littlefield Lake sandbar party doesn’t quite qualify as a super-spreader event, said Steve Hall, Central Michigan District Health Department health officer.

While there is no specific definition for what qualifies as a superspreader event, Hall said that the person who spread the virus wasn’t exhaling especially large amounts of it, one common characteristic. Hall referred to it as more of a perfect storm, where lots of people in tight quarters with an infected person led to an unusually high number of infections.

One of those people is employed at Delfield.

Two Delfield employees have very recently tested positive for the disease, said Rich Sheffer, vice president of investor relations, risk management and treasurer of Welbilt. Welbilt owns the Mt. Pleasant Delfield operation. The two are unrelated.

Sheffer said the most recent positive case was brought to management’s attention yesterday, and the company began tracking down people potentially exposed, who were required to get tested.

Employees who test positive are told to quarantine for two weeks and require a doctor’s note telling the company they are no longer sick, Sheffer said.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased in Isabella County by nine overnight, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 website.

On Tuesday, the county reported 138. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, that number had increased to 147. Eight Isabella County residents have died, and 11 have required hospitalization since March.

According to the CMDHD website, 67 people have recovered. A recovery is defined as 30 days past either onset of symptoms or diagnosis with the patient neither dead nor hospitalized. It is an inexact measurement, because some people say their symptoms persist for much longer than a month.

Isabella County is the only midmichigan county that has seen consistent, steady growth in cases since mid-june.

Gratiot County saw a spurt in case growth last week, mostly driven by someone catching the disease out in the community and then infecting members of their households. Gratiot has had a total of 97 cases, with 14 deaths. That is unchanged since Tuesday.

Since Tuesday, Clare County added one case for a total of 34, with three deaths; two cases were added in Mecosta, for 38 and two deaths; one case was added in Montcalm County, for 121 cases and one death; one case was added in Gladwin County, for 29 cases and one death; and eight cases were added in Midland County, for 153 and nine deaths.

Statewide, another 891 cases and four deaths were announced for a total of 71,197 cumulative cases and 6,085 cumulative deaths.