The church leadership and the Health Ministry Team have been following the COVID pandemic status since its origination.
At certain times procedures were instituted and modified as necessary for the church to continue worship and other functions. As we are all aware, recently the COVID pandemic status has worsened. The appearance of the Delta variant and now the Omicron variant have caused a new surge in cases which are increasing with Omicron spreading faster than the Delta variant did.
A major increase in virus transmission, number of cases and hospitalizations has occurred. All three local hospital systems have had to institute major cutbacks in elective surgery to provide beds for a surge in admissions. The Delta variant is still the most prominent viral strain and is the cause of the vast majority of hospital admissions. Most current hospital and ICU COVID admissions and the most seriously ill cases of COVID occur in people who have not been vaccinated.
Finally, we are expecting an increase in church activities and attendance during this Christmas season. Due to these recent events we believe some safety practices are worth specifically emphasizing and supporting. Therefore we:
Strongly encourage all people to wear masks at all times when inside the church
Support re-emphasizing / increasing / improving our social distancing when inside the church
Promote individual consideration of getting vaccinated if not already done.
We sincerely hope all have an uplifting, merry and safe Christmas season.