Colorado COVID-19 outbreak traced to Bible conference that defied health orders: report

On Saturday, The Friendly Atheist reported that Colorado authorities have traced 22 cases of COVID-19 to a Summer Family Bible conference held by Andrew Wommack, a preacher who has openly defied state public health restrictions on church gatherings.

"I have respectfully refused to comply with the artificial limit on the number of people who can attend," wrote Wommack in a Facebook post. "We are firmly in the 'crosshairs' of our liberal state government. Liberty Counsel has agreed to represent us, and we are fighting back. I believe it is not only our constitutional right but our duty to stop this extreme overreach of government that allows people to riot and pillage but not assemble to worship the Lord."

Subsequently, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment traced an outbreak of COVID-19 to that event, “with seven staff members and fifteen attendees testing positive.”

As a result, Wommack has canceled his upcoming in-person "healing conference" and will be live streaming the event for his parishioners instead.

"I know it seems ironic that I’d be canceling a healing conference due to a sickness outbreak," said Wommack in a statement. "If it was just me, I believe that if I touch someone, they’ll catch my healing instead of me catching their sickness. But since the Covid-19 cases in this community have risen lately, I have to consider the safety and well-being of everyone involved. I know that God wants to heal Covid, just like every other disease, and he can do that no matter where you are!"

You can read more here.