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Stuck at home for months amid the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, worshippers at Loma Linda University’s on-campus Seventh Day Adventist church mostly made due with online services.

On Saturday, members of the church’s youth ministry were hoping for something different. They planned a small drive-thru event near the university’s hospital. Up to 20 cars were expected.

Instead, 3,000 people showed up.

Sheriff’s deputies had to disperse the crowds. The event violated the state rule prohibiting large gatherings. And the car show now has sparked health concerns as San Bernardino County continues to deal with widespread coronavirus outbreaks.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic,” said Konrad Bolowich, an assistant city manager for Loma Linda. “The last thing we want is to be the ground zero for some super spreader event.”

Flood of calls

At around 9 p.m. Saturday, a flood of calls came into the county Sheriff’s Department. Residents were reporting a traffic jam near the hospital’s parking garage. Callers said numerous cars were backed up inside the structure.

Videos of the event show large groups of attendees — many wearing masks, others not — huddled around sports cars and luxury vehicles as they slowly drive through the garage.

The structure is located less than a block from the hospital entrance.

“It was discovered that hundreds of vehicles and individuals showed up for a charity car show and it quickly became overpopulated and was shut down,” said Cynthia Bachman, a Sheriff’s spokeswoman.

Bachman said Sheriff’s commanders believed as many as 3,000 people may have been inside the structure at 11115 San Lucas Drive when deputies arrived. She said attendees dispersed when deputies ordered them to leave, with all clearing out around midnight.

@KTLA Loma Linda, CA – Car Meet pic.twitter.com/iwVOe6uXDS

— 𝒥𝒶𝓃𝒶 (@spiralinghoe) October 4, 2020

City and hospital officials said they knew about the event ahead of time. But when organizers originally applied to host the car show three weeks ago, they had a much smaller event in mind.

The applicants included Loma Linda University Church of Seventh Day Adventists, which described the event at the time as involving a caravan “somewhere in the range of 10 to no more than 20 cars,” Bolowich said.

Attendees were meant to stay inside their vehicles and keep socially distanced if they got out.

“Apparently they got ahead of themselves,” Bolowich said.

A flyer for the event billed it as “The Come Back,” a free pop-up gathering of “supercars,” food and “Godvibes” that would serve as the apparent return of a car-show promoter called OriginKazoku.

The flyer lists Loma Linda University Church and its youth ministry, Praxis, as cohosts. Bolowich said he didn’t know if OriginKazoku was also listed in the event application.

‘We had no idea’

In February, the promoter hosted at least three car shows around the region, in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, before the pandemic hit.

Images of those rallies showed hundreds of attendees. For its return show, all proceeds would be donated to “homeless aid,” according to the flyer for Saturday’s event.

Hospital and church officials said social media, and possibly young people made stir-crazy from pandemic-related closures, fueled the massive response to the event Saturday.

“The church expected a small gathering, but it turned into an unanticipated social media-driven viral event that rapidly grew far beyond any reasonably expected attendance,” officials of the Loma Linda University Health system said in an email.

Promoters at OriginKozaku did not return a request for comment.

Filip Milosavljevic, Praxis’ pastor, said in a video posted to his Instagram account that he was at the parking structure until 2:30 a.m. cleaning up.

“First off just super sorry to those of you who were hindered by the traffic,” Milosavljevic said.

“People who are concerned, we saw your comments, we understood your concerns. We had no idea the event would be this big.”

A pastor for Loma Linda University Church did not return a request for comment.

Bachman said the Sheriff’s Department was not informed of the event prior to Saturday. And while organizers for the event said firefighters would be on hand to provide emergency services, it’s unclear if the Loma Linda Fire Department was alerted to the event.

Jeff Gillette, a fire department spokesman, said he didn’t believe emergency officials would approve thousands of people crowding near a hospital amid a pandemic.

“We will always be there, that’s technically true for every emergency,” Gillette said. “But I can’t see them going there and saying, ‘This is a good idea.’ “

‘Out of compliance’

Since the beginning of the year, the coronavirus has killed nearly 210,000 Americans, including more than 16,100 Californians. Health officials have warned that widespread wearing of masks and staying away from crowds could help slow the spread of the virus.

As of Sunday, the San Bernardino County was in a purple tier, the state’s highest alert assessment for the spread of the disease, with an average of 7.2 cases per day per 100,000 people. More than 960 have died here.

Officials said Saturday’s event appeared to violate the state’s ban on large gatherings of people.

After reviewing a video from the event, David Wert, a San Bernardino County spokesman, said the car show “would have been out of compliance.”

He said the county had not been made aware of the event. And he said officials didn’t receive any complaints about the event.

“Had organizers contacted the county in advance, the county would have advised them not to proceed,” Wert said in an email. “Had the county been informed before or during the event, the county would have coordinated with the City of Loma Linda on strategies to prevent the event from going forward.”

It wasn’t clear if the crowds hampered hospital operations in any way. Loma Linda Medical Center officials did not respond to questions about whether patients or visitors were unable to access the parking garage during the event.

Bolowhich said the city has planned numerous events with the university’s church over the years, and never had any issues in the past. He didn’t know Sunday if the city would take any action against the organizers.