A document shows John MacArthur’s church knew of at least a dozen congregants with COVID, but there’s no sign cases were reported.
Month: December 2020
The American Medical Association filed a brief before the Supreme Court. It identified five potential risk factors posed by religious gatherings.
- Enclosed spaces
- Large Groups
- Close proximity to others
- Long duration of exposure and staying in one place
- Loud talking and singing
In a recent Supreme Court case, physicians detailed for justices the inherent risks of in-person worship during the pandemic. Learn more with the AMA.
Source: 5 reasons why religious services pose high risk of COVID-19 spread
The Christian County Health Department has advised anybody who attended events at James River Church to monitor themselves for Covid symptoms for 14 days.
James River Church responded Monday to complaints after social media images show little social distancing and few masks at its Christmas celebrations over the weekend.
Sources: James River Church responds to complaints about crowded, unmasked Christmas services
An opinion page in a Maine newspaper raises the question about whether wearing eye protection might slow the spread of Covid.
“An unexplored public health intervention for the general public is the concept of wearing eye protection when in public spaces with high traffic,” Jonathan Shenkin and Daniela Bacherini write.
Source: Opinion: Eye protection for the public may prevent COVID-19 transmission
Every December for over a century, there has been a performance of The Messiah at First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana. The 2020 performance was significantly different than prior years.
First, the concert was given online only, with no audience present.
Second, the choir was limited in size and spread around where the audience would have been.
Third, the performance was shortened, curtailing most of the second half of The Messiah, but of course The Hallelujah Chorus was included.
Watch it by clicking below.
The Messiah – Berne, Indiana 2020
United House of Prayer for All People, in Charlotte, held large gatherings over a week in early October without enforcing proper coronavirus safety precautions, like mask wearing and social distancing. In the month and a half since, cases linked back to the church have steadily increased, hitting 213 as of Nov. 19, and deaths are now up to 12.
Source: COVID Outbreak at North Carolina Church Linked to 12 Deaths and More Than 200 Cases
While Australia is an island (a very large continent-island) they have demonstrated that it is possible to contain covid. They are using measures that are very familiar to all of us: wearing masks, social distancing, contact tracing.
Australia’s most populous state said that from Monday it would remove limits on the number of people at weddings, bars and religious services and end a ban on public venue dancing as a run of coronavirus-free days prompted a broad downgrade of social distancing rules.
Though Australia has reported some new coronavirus cases in returned travellers in quarantine, the country has largely stopped community transmission of the virus with contact tracing, distancing measures and mandatory mask-wearing.
Source: COVID-free for days, Australian state resumes singing, dancing, religious services