Health officials are tracking “other [COVID-19] outbreaks” related to events held by Andrew Wommack Ministries, according to a Monday news release from Teller County Public Health and Environment.

Wommack Ministries, an evangelical Christian organization that hosts retreats, theater performances and seminars, and runs Charis Bible College in Teller County held a ministers conference at the college Oct. 5-9 that brought at least 1,000 attendees throughout the week, the county’s health department said. 

Between 500 and 600 people attended each session of the conference, ministry spokeswoman Eileen Quinn previously told The Gazette. The conference was reportedly live-streamed to participants who were seated in separate zones throughout the large main building, which has a capacity of more than 5,000 people, she said.

Colorado’s cap for indoor gatherings at the time of the conference was 175 people, which included at places of worship.

On Monday, the health department said officials are “currently tracking other outbreaks of [COVID-19] associated with events held at the conference center at Andrew Wommack Ministries, Inc. in Teller County.”

Wommack Ministries received a cease-and-desist letter from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on July 2 while its Summer Family Bible Conference was in session, which was held at Charis from June 29 to July 3.

That event drew 1,710 attendees and had 564 staff working at it, according to the lawsuit local and state officials filed Oct. 8. In the subsequent weeks, 16 attendees and 24 staff were confirmed to have COVID-19, and another 23 people were “probable” cases. Two of the infected people were hospitalized and one died. Andrew Wommack Ministries did not comply with contact tracing procedures, the health department said.

Despite the cease-and-desist letter, the Bible conference continued through July 3.

In July, Teller County reported 48 additional cases for a total of 89 since the pandemic reached the community. The county reported 220 cases Monday.

Wommack Ministries previously challenged the state’s authority over religious groups filed by Liberty Counsel.

In a two-week legal tussle that began Sept. 28, Liberty Counsel, which represents Wommack Ministries, had claims of First Amendment violations and discrimination rejected in both federal District Court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Then a three-judge panel on the appellate court rejected Liberty Counsel’s appeal on Oct. 5, the first day of the ministers conference.

Teller County and Colorado state health departments filed a new complaint in county court to order Andrew Wommack Ministries to comply with public health orders.

A federal judge exempted two Colorado churches from the state’s mandate on wearing masks indoors and the cap on the number of people at indoor gatherings.

In August, Denver Bible Church in Wheat Ridge and Community Baptist Church in Brighton filed a complaint challenging state health orders as being void because of their vagueness and infringements upon religious freedom.

In an order issued on Oct. 15, U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Domenico said he didn’t believe the plaintiffs would succeed at trial in proving the majority of their claims against the government, but did grant a temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing the face covering mandate and capacity limits against the two churches.