The El Paso County woman who died from COVID-19 might have exposed scores of older people to the highly contagious respiratory disease during a bridge tournament earlier this month.

The woman, who was in her 80s, became the first person to die from the disease in Colorado on Friday. About two weeks prior, on Feb. 29 and March 1, she attended a bridge tournament at the Colorado Springs Bridge Center — an event that attracted around 100 older people from across southern Colorado.

At least one other bridge player has since tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and two others have been hospitalized with symptoms that have not been confirmed to be the virus, said John Dukellis, a club director, who said he has been fielding calls from scared players.

“This group is going to be hard hit,” Dukellis said. “This is just the beginning.”

Dr. Robin Johnson, medical director of El Paso County Public Health, said Saturday that several bridge players were under medical observation with pending tests for COVID-19. The disease is typically more severe in older patients or those with underlying health conditions.

The tournament saw about 90 players its first morning, 80 that afternoon and 44 players on its second day, Dukellis said. The woman who died also attended the bridge center on March 3, a night when about 70 people were in attendance.

“I would say 95 percent of the people in attendance were over the age of 65,” Dukellis said.

Some of the players came from group living situations but most were living in private residences, said Michelle Hewitt, a spokeswoman for El Paso County Public Health. She added that the county is working with those facilities that might have been exposed and was not able to say Sunday how many facilities that includes.

Players came to the center from the greater Colorado Springs area, including Monument and Woodland Park, as well as from Denver, Pueblo and Buena Vista, Dukellis said.

Johnson said Saturday that health officials are working to contact everyone who was at the center on those dates to warn them about potential exposure to the coronavirus. She said the woman who died didn’t know she was sick when she attended the games.

“My understanding is that she was unaware at the time that she was playing bridge that she had symptoms that she would have been concerned about,” Johnson said during a press conference with reporters.

She said officials are still investigating how the woman in her 80s contracted the disease, and said that while the woman herself did not recently travel, she may have come in contact with someone who did.

The virus’ spread from the woman to the second patient is the first case of “community spread” in El Paso County, Johnson said.

As of Sunday morning the county had three confirmed COVID-19 cases, out of 101 cases across the state.

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