Hundreds crowd popular southwestern Michigan lake over holiday weekend
CASS COUNTY, Mich. - A video shared on Twitter over the weekend shows hundreds of people packed onto a popular sandbar in a southwestern Michigan lake near the Indiana state line.
With little evidence of social distancing or face mask-wearing seen in the video, the Diamond Lake party was among several that took place over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Video shows hundreds of people gathering in Michigan lake over July 4th weekend
A video posted online showed hundreds of people gathering in a popular southern Michigan lake in Cass County over the weekend. There was little evidence of social distancing or face masks being worn during the gathering.
The footage was initially posted onto an Instagram story, before taking off on Twitter and garnering more than 10 million views. In it, primarily young people stand in waist-high water drinking alcohol and dancing to music.
Along with the millions of views came plenty of flak from people online, one calling the scene a "COVID-19 Petri dish." Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer chimed in as well, saying the scene was 'disappointing.'
While large crowds both indoors and outside have been strongly discouraged in Michigan and around the U.S., the recommendations from health experts have fallen on deft ears of many looking for ways to celebrate the holidays.
Michigan's status for new COVID-19 cases remains low, however, there are several local outbreaks linked to bars and strip clubs that have officials worried about which direction daily rates could turn. After taking a slight turn upwards, cases have fallen over the last couple of days. On Sunday, zero deaths were reported, which is a first for the state since it reported its first coronavirus-related fatality.
However, Michigan's new case rate isn't the norm being reported throughout the country. States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona are recording skyrocketing new caseloads and increased hospitalizations.