A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal. Now dozens of members have COVID-19 and two are dead
A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal. Now dozens of members have COVID-19 and two are dead
Skagit Valley Chorale members Mark Backlund and his wife, Ruth Backlund, sing choir music Friday at their home in Anacortes, Wash., while convalescing from COVID-19.
(Karen Ducey / For The Times)
By
RICHARD READSEATTLE BUREAU CHIEF
MARCH 29, 2020
7:34 PM
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. —
With the coronavirus quickly spreading in Washington state in early March, leaders of the Skagit Valley Chorale debated whether to go ahead with weekly rehearsal.
The virus was already killing people in the Seattle area, about an hour’s drive to the south.
But Skagit County hadn’t reported any cases, schools and businesses remained open, and prohibitions on large gatherings had yet to be announced.
On March 6, Adam Burdikk, the choir’s conductor, informed the 121 members in an email that amid the “stress and strain of concerns about the virus,” practice would proceed as scheduled at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church