Woman who died of COVID-19 after Maine wedding outbreak

A woman who died of COVID-19 in a case linked to an outbreak from a Maine wedding has been identified as an 83-year-old ‘vivacious’ mother who loved quilting and making handmade Christmas tree skirts.

Theresa Dentremont died in Maine’s Millinocket Regional Hospital on August 21 after becoming infected with coronavirus.

While the 83-year-old did not attend the wedding, the hospital believes she may have been infected by one of the guests. 

Her 97-year-old husband Frank Dentremont, who is a WWII veteran and the oldest resident of resident of East Millinocket, was hospitalized at the same facility a few days later with COVID-19. 

His son, Frank Dentremont Jr, revealed in a Facebook post that his father had since miraculously recovered and was due to be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. 

Dentremont Jr told the Washington Post that he recalled hearing about the wedding, which has now been linked to 123 of the state’s coronavirus cases, but believed his father and stepmother would have been safe. 

The couple had been self-isolating at their home for much of the pandemic given they fell into the high-risk COVID-19 category. 

‘I had heard the stories about the wedding thing,’ he said. 

‘I thought, “My dad and stepmom weren’t there. They’ve been quarantining themselves; they’ll be fine”. Who could have known?’ 

Dentremont Jr has said he doesn’t want to speculate on who could have given his stepmother and father the virus. 

He has also said he isn’t angry at those who went ahead with the wedding. The bride and groom have not been publicly identified.

A pastor who said he officiated the ceremony has defended holding the wedding in social media posts.  

‘Nobody did this consciously,’ Dentremont Jr said. ‘If they knew they were the ones at fault, I’m sure they’d feel terrible.’  

He has described his stepmother as a ‘vivacious woman and wonderful mom’ who loved quilting and handing out handmade tree skirts as Christmas gifts. 

In a Facebook post, he said the ‘horrible time of grief’ for him and his step-siblings over Theresa’s death had been ‘mediated in part by the miraculous recovery of my dad’.  

The wedding, which was held August 7, has made national headlines ever since health officials first revealed guests had started testing positive for COVID-19 just days later. 

The ceremony was held at the Tri Town Baptist Church before an indoor reception took place at the Big Moose Inn.     

The reception venue has since admitted that they misunderstood local capacity rules for COVID-19 restrictions and overbooked the event. 

Sixty-five guests attended the wedding despite the state having a 50-person limit for indoor gatherings, health officials say.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention says 123 COVID-19 cases have now been linked to the wedding. 

Cases believed to be tied to the wedding have since been detected in two nearby towns, the East Millinocket school system, a nursing home and a county jail 200 miles away after a jail employee attended the nuptials. 

Around 13 per cent of those who have become infected are asymptomatic. Almost half of the cases thought to have come from the wedding are people who did not attend the celebration. 

The outbreak has sparked dire warnings from health officials about the seriousness of the virus. 

Dora Anne Mills, the chief health improvement officer at MaineHealth, told the Post that COVID-19 had the ability to tear small communities apart. 

‘It’s a silent guest at the wedding,’ she said. 

‘It spreads silently, so that by the time you realize that you yourself have spread it, you’ve already done the damage.’ 

The Big Moose Inn was issued with an imminent health hazard citation and its health license was suspended in the aftermath, according to Maine CDC Director Dr Nirav Shah. 

Owner Laurie Cormier issued a statement claiming her establishment had misinterpreted local health guidelines and the overcrowded wedding was a misunderstanding. 

‘It is important to note that because Big Moose Inn has separate rooms for dining as well as outdoor seating, the facility’s approved capacity during this time is 80 persons,’ Cormier said. 

‘We understood that there could be no more than 50 persons in our largest room. We did make an error in the interpretation of that rule.

‘Our interpretation was that we could take a wedding party of more than 50 persons, and split them between two rooms as long as it didn’t exceed our total capacity or a specific room’s capacity. 

‘The State – perhaps, rightfully so – assumes that individuals from a larger group would ignore the room restrictions and take the opportunity to co-mingle.

‘Our interpretation of the rule put the Big Moose Inn in violation of the gathering of people over the maximum number allowed by Maine DECD guidelines.’

While the United States has amassed the largest number of coronavirus cases in the world, Maine’s cases and deaths have remained relatively low compared to other states. 

As of Tuesday, Maine had reported 4,526 cases and 132 deaths from COVID-19.