Dear friends,
Over the past weeks, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout Washtenaw County have risen to the point that we entered a ‘high’ COVID-19 community level under the CDC’s metrics on May 12. At this level, the CDC and our local health department recommend that everyone wear a mask in all indoor public settings to help limit the spread of the virus and minimize the strain on our local health care system.
As we have strived to follow the recommendation of public health agencies throughout the course of this pandemic, we are going to begin strongly recommending masking in all places within our building beginning Sunday, May 28. Our signage throughout the building will be updated accordingly and masks will be available at both entrances to the building.
Looking ahead, we can expect both that our community level will again decrease in the short term but also that it may continue to modulate over the coming months. As we work to match our precautions to the seriousness of COVID-19 in our local community at any given time, we have determined the precautions we will follow at each CDC community level as shown below:
These precautions do continue to hold worship separate from other building uses so we can ensure that even the most high-risk individuals can safely participate in-person in worship as the foundational element of our shared community life. The CDC community levels are calculated every Thursday and I will continue monitoring them and announcing any precaution shifts as the levels change.
In addition to our church precautions, I also encourage us all to continue following the CDC recommendations which are particularly important at a ‘high’ community level: staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, testing if exposed to COVID-19 or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and following recommendations for isolation and quarantine if symptomatic or after a positive test result.
As always, thank you for your ongoing adherence to our precautions and for all the ways you help protect the health and safety of our community!
In Christ,
Pastor Dillon