All it took was one packed bar. An infected patron. And a wild party afterward.

This is the toxic combination that has led to a new wave of COVID-19 cases in the Grosse Pointe community, where at least 30 new cases in recent days have been tied to an outbreak at a popular East Lansing bar almost 100 miles away.

Harper's Restaurant & Brew Pub saw shoulder-to-shoulder crowds after reopening earlier this month, including some college students from the affluent Grosse Pointes who unknowingly got infected and brought the virus back home. According to multiple families who are now in quarantine, one of those students who visited Harper's came into contact with a friend who held a huge house party in Grosse Pointe Woods, where dozens of friends partied without masks and social distancing, they said.

The party was held on a Friday night, parents said. The host was symptomatic during the party, got sicker over the weekend and was tested for COVID-19 on Monday, though didn't share the positive results with friends until Tuesday night, parents said.

By then, the virus had spread among college-age kids hanging out for the summer.

"I'm just so frustrated," said one mother, whose 19-year-old daughter has tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a bonfire with friends in Grosse Pointe. "I'm so sad. We stayed home as ordered and then let our guard down — and now this."

According to the mother, who requested anonymity to protect her family's privacy, her daughter did not go to Harper's or the party in Grosse Pointe Woods, but rather became infected after attending a bonfire with friends who had been exposed to the students who had gone to Harper's. Now her whole family is in quarantine, and she's worried, anxious and scared.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2020/06/27/harpers-bar-east-lansing-coronavirus-grosse-pointe/3268551001/