50 Georgia kids potentially exposed to COVID-19 after Santa, Mrs. Claus test positive
By FOX 5 Digital Team
Published article
LONG COUNTY, Ga. - Around 50 children were potentially exposed to COVID-19 in a Georgia County after the man and woman playing Santa and Mrs. Claus in a Christmas parade tested positive for the virus.
The Long County Board of Commissioners said the exposure happened on Thursday, Dec. 10 at the annual Long County Chamber of Commerce Christmas parade and tree lighting in Ludowici, Georgia.
According to officials, the people playing Santa and Mrs. Claus both received positive test results after having their pictures taken with roughly 50 children. They were asymptomatic at the time of the parade.
As families find themselves staying home, instead of going home, for the holidays, cities across the country are turning to alternative methods to celebrate a Christmas curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Neighborhood light shows can be seen only from a car window, and tree lightings are held with limited audiences to limit the spread of the virus.
The highly anticipated trip to see Santa Claus also known by the name Kris Kringle as pictured in the 1983 classic A Christmas Story is no exception.
In order to comply with health restrictions, Santa is sitting behind a plastic sheet or waving from car windows.
A photo opportunity with Mr. and Mrs. Claus may have exposed nearly 50 kids in Georgia to COVID-19.
The Long County Chamber of Commerce held its annual Christmas parade Thursday in Ludowici, Georgia, over 50 miles southwest of Savannah. As usual, the parade featured an event that gave children the chance to sit on a jolly Santa s lap for a photo.
Soon after the event, both Clauses tested positive for COVID-19, potentially exposing the 50 children who posed for photos and their families to the coronavirus.
In a notice posted on the Long County Board of Commissioners website Monday, board chairman Robert D. Parker confirmed the positive tests and said neither Santa or Mrs. Claus showed any symptoms at the event.