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Texas church to close after priest dies after COVID-19 infection

A health official prepares to take samples for a coronavirus test from a journalist in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, March 13, 2020 after it was confirmed that a senator who attended several meetings in the building tested positive for the infection. The caretaker prime minister of Romania, Ludovic Orban, said in a press conference at the parliament, the government, including all ministers, as well as the leadership of the ruling National Liberal Party and all its senators, are going into quarantine after one of the governing party’s senators, who took part in high-level meetings, who confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness.(AP Photo/George Calin)
by: WRTV Staff
Posted:

A catholic church in Houston has closed its doors after five of its leaders tested positive for COVID-19, including two priests who helped celebrate public masses after they resumed earlier this month.

The closure and positive tests come after a priest from Holy Ghost parish, 79-year-old Donnell Kirchner, died last week. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, but officials are determining whether he might have contracted the virus before he died May 13.

Kirchner went to an urgent care clinic and later to a hospital emergency room. But after being released, he went back to the home he shared with members of his religious order, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston said.

The members of Kirchner’s religious order are asymptomatic but are being quarantined.

The diocese encouraged anyone who attended masses at Holy Ghost to get tested as a precaution.

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