Coughing patient at a birthday party results in Covid-19 cluster in California

The United States is the worst affected country by the coronavirus pandemic as the number of Covid-19 positive cases there have crossed 1.30 million.

A number of states in the country are opening up despite the high caseload. As governments try to balance health and economic priorities, medical experts have said that new flare-ups are inevitable.

One such incident was reported in California’s Pasadena where a cluster of new infections was discovered.

Health officials said that a large group of extended family and friends had attended a recent birthday party, despite a stay-at-home order in effect, leading to the spurt in infection, The Washington Post reported.

CNN reported that one guest - a woman - at the party was coughing and not wearing a face mask. She was joking with people that she may have Covid-19, the channel reported. There were other people, said CNN, who ignored social distancing norms and did not cover their faces.

Some of the guests who CNN spoke to called the woman’s behavious selfish.

Through contact tracing, investigators discovered more than five confirmed cases and “many more ill individuals” linked to the party, the local public health department was quoted as saying.

More than 65,000 people are infected with the coronavirus disease in California and at least 2,687 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The controversy over when, and how much, to ease the restrictions have taken on a sharp political overtone, with protests especially in the United States, with occasional violence against those trying to keep the rules in place.

Meanwhile, health authorities are also investigating 73 reported cases among New York children of the syndrome, which has symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease or toxic shock syndrome, Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a news conference on Saturday.