Daily Journal staff report
KANKAKEE — The Kankakee County Public Health Department is reaching out to the community in an effort to notify local residents potentially exposed to COVID-19 at a recent out-of-state wedding.
Many of the attendees at the Aug. 1 wedding at Boxed & Burlap in Delavan, Wis., were residents of Kankakee County. Health department officials say anyone who attended this event was potentially exposed to COVID-19.
To date, 11 of the local attendees have tested positive for the virus. But, the health department says, some of those individuals have been unwilling to assist contact tracers, which is hampering their ability to notify those who may have been exposed either at the wedding or in their interactions after the fact.
“Unfortunately, many of those who have tested positive are unwilling to cooperate with the Kankakee County Health Department Contact Tracing team to provide the names and contact information of others they were in close contact with and possibly exposed at the event,” according to a press release from the health department.
The health department said that those who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for 14 days. Those who have been notified that they have been in close contact of a COVID-19 positive case must quarantine for 14 days, even if they are asymptomatic and/or have had a negative test.
Failure to follow quarantine and isolation instruction could result in a Class A misdemeanor, the health department said, citing Title 77 Part 690 of the Control of Communicable Diseases Code.
If you attended the wedding, you should talk to your healthcare provider about getting tested and monitor for COVID-like symptoms, said Lindsay Wilson, health promotion coordinator and emergency response coordinator for the health department.
Once you’ve done that, reporting to the health department would be helpful to contact tracers, Wilson said. You can contact the COVID hotline at 815-802-9349. Wilson said to mention the wedding when calling.