Andrew Wommack Linked to COVID-19 Surge in Colorado County
Officials in Colorado told ministry leader Andrew Wommack he could safely host up to 175 people at his summer Family Bible Conference, held June 29-July 3.
But Wommack ignored the guidelines and allowed 800-1,000 people to gather at his Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, in the mountains west of Colorado Springs.
Officials were alerted to the crowd size and responded with a cease-and-desist order.
Wommack disobeyed the order and fought back claiming it violated his constitutional rights. He hired Liberty Counsel to provide legal representation.
Now, officials are blaming Wommack for a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in Teller County, which has had 48 new cases since July 3. Of those cases, 34 are linked to Bible conference attendees and Wommack employees.
Teller County Commissioner Marc Dettenrieder told reporters that Pikes Peak Regional Hospital was running at “near capacity,” saying the hospital had only two beds open and was “close to being maxed out.”
But Liberty Counsel’s Matt Staver is denying the charges and has called Dettenrieder a liar.
“Commissioner Marc Dettenrieder’s comment alleging an ‘outbreak’ of COVID in Teller County is due to a conference several weeks [ago] is false and reckless,” Staver told Newsweek.
“Commissioner Dettenrider is well aware that a surge in COVID occurred prior to the conference,” Staver continued. “Such irresponsible finger-pointing also ignores the fact that COVID has increased across the state, and that Gov. [Jared] Polis continues to support mass crowds of protestors, most with no masks and none with social distancing.”
Wommack has recently acknowledged only that “a few of our staff and attendees at our last conference have tested positive” and has moved an in-person Healing Is Here conference scheduled for Aug. 11-14 to a live-stream event.
As Wommack said on his website: “I know it seems ironic that I’d be canceling a healing conference due to a sickness outbreak. If it was just me, I believe that if I touch someone, they’ll catch my healing instead of me catching their sickness. But since the Covid-19 cases in this community have risen lately, I have to consider the safety and well-being of everyone involved. I believe we have the Constitutional right to hold the event live, but I also do not want anyone to get sick if we can avoid it.”
The event will feature testimonies from people Wommack says were healed of fibromyalgia, constant pain, autism, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, PTSD, yellow fever, lupus, and kidney and heart failure.
Wommack has also canceled a Gospel Truth Conference scheduled for July 30-Aug. 1 in Chicago.
In the six months since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the U.S., Wommack has called the virus a hoax exploited by enemies of President Trump, claimed it would disappear by March, dismissed its risks to him and other true believers, and said he could never picture Jesus wearing a mask.
