Chemung church COVID-19 cluster has impacted about 300 New Yorkers and counting. What to know

About 300 New Yorkers have had their lives impacted so far by a growing COVID-19 cluster traced to a church in Chemung County, health officials said.

That figure included about 75 cases of the respiratory disease uncovered in Chemung County and 15 cases in other counties linked to the initial outbreak at Lighthouse Baptist Church, which authorities uncovered in early September.

Further, well over 200 additional people have been identified as contacts potentially exposed to COVID-19 as a result of the cluster, state Department of Health officials said Monday.

A 76-year-old Chemung man unaffiliated with the church was the lone COVID-19 death linked to the outbreak thus far.

Community testing efforts this week in Chemung aim to better identify the outbreak scope and inform contact-tracing efforts seeking to contain its spread statewide, according to Jill Montag, a state Health Department spokeswoman.

The situation underscored “the ongoing need for taking precautions and personal responsibility to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our daily lives,” Montag said.

“A small gathering with an unknown case can rapidly turn into several clusters across a large geographic area, leading to disruptions in daily lives, ongoing spread, and, sadly in this instance, serious illness and one death,” she added.

More: Chemung County COVID-19 surge continues as Health Department confirms 20 new cases

What we know about Chemung church COVID-19 outbreak cases

USA TODAY Network has gathered information from local health officials involved in the outbreak investigation.

Among the findings:

• Schuyler County had nine confirmed and two presumed COVID-19 cases tied to the church outbreak as of Tuesday. It also had 11 people under a quarantine order as a result of the cluster, with a majority expected to be released from quarantine later this week.
• Onondaga, Steuben and Tioga counties each have had one confirmed COVID-19 case tied to the church outbreak, according to health officials.
• Broome County and Oneida counties investigated potential links to the outbreak but have yet to confirm any cases.

Testing of all 151 workers and inmates at Chemung County Jail was conducted after the church outbreak was linked to four jail workers and five inmates at the facility.

Related: Horseheads school district transportation employee tests positive for COVID-19

More:Chemung County COVID-19 surge continues as Health Department confirms 20 new cases

What we don’t know about Chemung church COVID-19 outbreak

The expanding web of people potentially exposed to COVID-19 due to the church outbreak remains unclear due to the church organization’s refusal to cooperate with contact-tracing investigations, Chemung County officials said.

In other words, the outbreak trail is quickly running cold the further it gets from the initial discovery of the cluster on Sept. 8, and community spread of the virus continues to rise without solid connections between cases.

State health officials declined to provide a breakdown by county of the more than 200 contacts identified thus far, citing the ongoing response to the initial cluster.

Chemung health officials originally traced a cluster of five positive cases back to Lighthouse Baptist Church, prompting a targeted testing effort that revealed dozens of related infections and ignited the multi-county investigation.

Chemung officials have ordered the church closed and filed a subpoena to obtain a list of church members as part of the contact-tracing effort. Church officials have yet to make a public statement about the matter.

More:Horseheads church-related COVID-19 death a grim warning, say Chemung County officials

More:Chemung County has 16 new COVID-19 cases, unknown if linked to Horseheads church cluster

Jeff Murray of Elmira Star-Gazette contributed to this report.

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David Robinson is the state health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network New York. He can be reached atdrobinson@gannett.com and followed on Twitter:@DrobinsonLoHud