Remember when social distancing first started? As we all know, the concept is that if we stay at least 6 feet away from people who are not part of our household, the chances of contracting COVID-19 are greatly reduced, even if we come into contact with someone who has the illness.

Obviously, there are other precautions we can take as well, like wearing face coverings and staying home when we are feeling anything less than 100% healthy.

Some people seem to think the pandemic is over, or at the very least, they aren’t taking the recommended precautions. For example, take that big pool party at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day weekend. It’s hard not to look at images of that party without feeling at least a little nervous about another coronavirus outbreak.

The people who organized the party said in advance that precautions would be taken, such as limiting the number of people who could attend. Based, on the pictures, there were still way too many people at the party for social distancing to be possible.

Now, it turns out that someone who attended the party on both Saturday and Sunday ended up testing positive for COVID-19. The individual didn’t start experiencing any symptoms until later in the day on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that this person wasn’t contagious while at the party.

A press release from the Camden County Health Department outlined where and when the infected individual visited certain places over the weekend, and they urge anyone who was at any of these places to “monitor for symptoms” of COVID-19, including shortness of breath, cough, fever and loss of taste or smell. Anyone who develops any symptoms should call their doctor and isolate themselves.

Backwater Jacks Bar & Grill, one of the locations the infected individual visited, seems pretty unapologetic and realistic. In a notice posted to Facebook, Gary T. Prewitt, the owner of Backwater Jacks called it “inevitable” that individuals with the coronavirus would visit his establishment. He went on to explain that they would take “additional precautions” but stated that “the virus will be part of our lives for the unseen future.” Basically, enter at your own risk. The decision is yours.

As always, if you are sick, the best idea is to stay home. If you are not feeling sick, it does not mean that you are not contagious.

Does it surprise you that someone at the pool party had COVID-19 without knowing it?