UPDATED MASK GUIDELINES
Council met this past week and, as always, we took time to talk about our COVID guidelines and how that affects the way we gather together. As we all have heard in the news, case counts are on the rise again, which means, hospitalizations are up and most likely, in the next 2-3 weeks, the amount of people who will have died will increase as well. All of this seems to be attributed to the Delta variant of the COVID virus.
So, the question remains, what does that mean for us at Holy Trinity and how we worship? For the time being, we are going to stay the course that we have been on the last few weeks and not change our masking policy. This means…
- Unvaccinated people are required to wear masks
- Vaccinated people have the option to not wear masks
When we first started this policy, I would estimate 90% of people in worship were going maskless. Honestly, it felt really good and safe and gave a sense of “normalcy.”
A few weeks ago, things started to shift as the Delta variant started to spread. In response, the CDC issued new mask guidelines which were specific to individual counties. Unvaccinated people were still “required” to wear a mask indoors, but now vaccinated people were asked to mask again if their county had a substantial or high COVD transmission rate. Initially, Rockingham and many of the surrounding counties in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts were designated as moderate. At that time, I wrote to all of you and said that while I, a vaccinated person, was not required to wear a mask, I was going to be proactive and begin wearing a mask while in public places and in worship. I asked all of you to do the same, while acknowledging it may not be practical for some.
I was pleased to see how many people joined me in wearing masks and would estimate that 90-95% of us are wearing masks. (I do take mine off when I am up front speaking, but put it back on when I return to my seat to sing.)
When I have talked to other pastors about your response to my request, many were astounded. Most expressed they wished they would have had that kind of response in the congregation they serve. So let me say thank you and well done. I assume, you are like me and would much rather not wear a mask. Personally, I want to throw it in the garbage and never see it again. Alas, it does not seem we are there yet. But if we want to get there, masking in certain situations seems like the sensible thing to do and the path we need to take.
But, as stated earlier, and due to your response over the last couple of weeks, even though Rockingham and the surrounding counties have now been designated as places of substantial transmission, we are not changing our masking policy. If you are vaccinated, you have the option of not wearing a mask but we do ask that you consider wearing one. If, for whatever reason, you choose not to wear a mask, you are welcome in worship.
Here are two links to the CDC website that we are using to guide us in our decisions that might be useful to you as you make your decisions.
Interactive map of transmission rate by county. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view
Information about the Delta variant in relation to vaccines and masks. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/delta-variant.html
Also, because we know there are people who want to worship in person but aren’t comfortable coming indoors yet, we will continue to have our mid-week, Wednesday evening worship, outside, underneath the tent. Join us every Wednesday at 6pm for singing, communion, prayers and a mediocre sermon (masks are optional for everyone).
Don’t forget, our Sunday morning worship is live-streamed directly to our website and is available immediately afterwards to watch at your convenience.
Thanks for your continual persistence during this time. COVID-fatigue is real and I know I am feeling it. Therefore, I ask for your prayers to find the strength to do what is needed for the most vulnerable and I will do the same for you.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tim