A Yakima Diocese priest tested positive for COVID-19, the Grant County Health District announced Sunday.

The Rev. Alejandro “Alex” Trejo, pastor at Lady of the Desert Parish in Mattawa, was hospitalized at Kadlec Medical Center in Richland as of Sunday afternoon. Trejo is being treated for pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.

He is the third case in Grant County, including one patient who died on March 8.

It is still unknown how Trejo became infected, according to the diocese.

Trejo, 48, has been at the Mattawa parish for four years and was ordained in 2003. He’s from Mexico City, where he has a large family, including a sister who is a nun and a doctor and works at a Catholic medical center there.

Trejo also has a brother in Pasco who runs a “great taqueria,” where the phone was ringing off the hook Sunday with concerned family and friends asking about Trejo, said Bishop Joseph Tyson.

Trejo returned to the United States on Feb. 18 after spending eight days in the Middle East visiting Israel. The priest had a high fever March 1, but presided over Mass. He began self-quarantining later that day.

When Trejo’s condition worsened, he was hospitalized. He was tested multiple times for COVID-19, but the test results came back inconclusive until yesterday, Grant County Health Officials said.

Inconclusive tests happen for a number of reasons, but this instance likely was due to the manner in which the sample was taken, said Theresa Atkinson, health district administrator.

The health district announced a probable case on Friday while waiting for Trejo’s newest test results to come back. They came back positive over the weekend.

The diocese thanked the Grant County Health District for their work to track those with whom Trejo had been in contact with for the past month.

The health district released a list of services where people may have been exposed: Feb. 26 at Our Lady of the Desert Parish, both at 7 a.m. and noon Mass. Feb. 26 at St. Michael’s Archangel Catholic Church at 6 p.m. Mass, and March 1 at Our Lady of the Desert, both at noon and 5 p.m. Masses.

Trejo gave communion at all of the services including Ash Wednesday, increasing the physical contact he had with parishioners.

Ash Wednesday is a popular service with significant attendance, Tyson said.

“He probably had well north of 1,000 people with all those Masses,” Tyson said.

Tyson said Trejo had significantly recovered by the time he tested positive for COVID-19 this weekend.

“He’s probably going to be released next week,” Tyson said. “He’s recuperating well and rapidly.”

Tyson said Trejo will follow protocols recommended by local health officials for quarantine after being released from the hospital, likely by staying with a family member.

All parish facilities were deep-cleaned Friday ahead of possible Masses; however, the services never happened.

After Gov. Jay Inslee’s statewide ban on gatherings of 250 or more people, Tyson suspended all public masses for the diocese, which has more than 40 parishes in Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat and Yakima counties.

The majority of the 180,000 Catholics the diocese serves speak Spanish.

However, just because services are not planned for the near future doesn’t mean people cannot worship at their local parish, said Tyson.

“Our primary message is the light is on for you,” said Tyson in both Spanish and English.

Bishop Thomas Daly, leader of the Spokane Catholic Diocese, on Sunday extended to all Catholics a previous dispensation permitting those 60 and older to avoid Mass. The dispensation issued Sunday excuses all Catholics in the Spokane Diocese from attending public Mass through March 29, but encourages worshipers to devote time to prayer on Sundays.

In the Yakima Diocese, churches will be cleaned throughout the day as individuals come in and out. By not holding large gatherings like Mass but continuing to be open, the church hopes to continue to be a place of support and community, Tyson said.

“The church is open for prayer, meditation, and private devotion,” he said.

Tyson and his fellow priests are holding mass via Facebook Live in both Spanish and English. More than 9,000 people watched Sunday morning’s bilingual Mass, Tyson said.

The diocese plans to provide church members with an online platform called Formed that provides access to movies, books and other programming for people to use while self-isolating.

Another priest in the diocese is in quarantine with flu-like symptoms, but has yet to be tested, Tyson said.

On Friday a member of the St. Joseph-Marquette Catholic School community in Yakima also tested positive for COVID-19, but the cases appear to be unconnected, the diocese said in a statement.

The school is being deep-cleaned and will remain closed through April 27 in accordance with statewide school closures ordered Thursday by Gov. Jay Inslee.