Officials say roughly 300 teenagers may have been exposed to the coronavirus when they attended a large “Pongfest” party in Lakeway, Texas, and local parents are worried that their baby sitters may have been infected.
Even before the party, which took place on June 20, several attendees were awaiting the results of their COVID-19 tests and have since tested positive.
“Unfortunately, our case load is probably going to increase because there was a very large party,” Lakeway Mayor Sandy Cox said last week.
City and local health officials are urging the party’s attendants to get tested and self-isolate. Cox told CNN on Wednesday her city had about 105 cases, 50 of which are active.
“Pongfest” is a summer tradition for local high school juniors and seniors.
Aly Kotal, a Lakeway resident who works for a baby sitter company, said this year parents are worried that their baby sitters have contracted the virus.
“I’ve already had five or six parents go, ‘So-and-so babysits for me can you please privately message them and ask them if they’re at this party?'” Kotal said, according to KVUE, a local ABC affiliate.
Texas is one of several states experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases, and the governor has temporarily halted plans to continue reopening the economy. There have been more than 175,000 COVID-19 cases in the state, and more than 2,500 people who were infected by the virus have died.