In his first interview since Westmore Church of God became the focus of a regional outbreak of COVID-19, the church’s lead pastor Kelvin Page said the church should have taken masks more seriously as a precaution and that the church is no longer tracking the number of confirmed cases in the congregation.
During an interview with Mix 104.1 WCLE in Cleveland on Thursday, Page said his church followed strong standards to keep people safe, including seat spacing and encouraging social distancing, but the virus began spreading in the congregation around June 21.
“It slipped in on us,” Page said. “It came in through the music ministry. It’s nobody’s fault. In fact that morning, as we did every week, temperatures were taken before choir members would go to the stage, and somehow it slipped in on us. I have to take responsibility for that.”
Westmore had held in-person services for weeks before the outbreak began. On June 22, Westmore hosted a regional worship service for the Tennessee Church of God state office, part of a monthlong tour of Church of God congregations in Tennessee by church officials. Several hundred people, from across Southeast Tennessee, attended the three-hour, indoor event.
Between June 24 and 26, Page announced on Facebook there were first one, then five and then 12 confirmed cases in the congregation. On June 26, he announced he was shutting down in-person services. People connected with the church feared the number of cases was multiples of what had been reported, and church leadership said little publicly for weeks.