UPDATE: March 16, 2020

First Baptist Church Statesboro sent a press release Monday stating that their March 14 Facebook post saying an out-of-town wedding guest tested positive for coronavirus was incorrect.

Their press release says the wedding guest tested negative for coronavirus.

“The confusion was that her father and a coworker had tested positive, so she was told to act, ‘as if’ she were positive until her own test came back,” reads the press release.

This new development has not been confirmed with the wedding guest or officials.

At the time of the original publication, the information in the Facebook post had not been confirmed with officials. This remains true with no response yet from the Press Secretary, Cody Hall from the the office of Gov. Brian Kemp.

The press release may be viewed in full below.

Below is the article published March 14, 2020.

STATESBORO — A Saturday afternoon Facebook post from the First Baptist Church Statesboro page said that an out-of-town wedding guest tested positive for coronavirus when she returned home last week.

The wedding was held March 7, according to the Facebook post signed from lead pastor John Waters.

The post says the church thoroughly disinfected and sanitized its facilities.

“Any perception that the facilities of First Baptist Church Statesboro are infected, diseased, or unclean is false and simply wrong,” the post reads.

The accuracy of the Facebook post has not yet been confirmed with officials. The Georgia Department of Health and the Bulloch County Health Department were unavailable for calls Saturday afternoon due to their business hours.

A spokesperson for the CDC stated they would not be able to verify claims made in a Facebook post.

Press Secretary Cody Hall from the governor’s office did not immediately reply to an email, and The George-Anne has reached out to Statesboro’s Mayor Jonathan McCollar.

The phone line for First Baptist Church was also unavailable due to their business hours.

Blakeley Bartee, The George-Anne Editor-in-Chief, gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu