The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:
They gathered on a summer weekend in the small northwestern Minnesota town of Lake Park to pay their respects to 78-year-old Francis Perreault and share their grief and memories of the good times. They hugged. They cried. They held hands and prayed and honored a man who was described by his daughter as “wonderful.”
Yet despite wearing masks and taking precautions, 30 family members became infected with COVID-19 within weeks of the mid-July services at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, and five became so sick they were hospitalized.
Attendees did a good job observing precautions during the services, but discipline broke down afterward as people cried, hugged and held hands to pray. Even amid a pandemic, the natural human instinct to comfort one another is strong.
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