I am wearing a mask again. I still have some in my car from a couple of months ago when it was common place and I didn’t leave the house without a mask. But I will throw those away and grab a couple new ones from a supply we have at church. I will wear one when I go to the grocery store. I will wear one when I go to Target. I will wear one when I am indoors in public places. I will wear one when I am in worship, beginning this Sunday morning. I ask you to do the same.
I don’t have to. According to the new CDC guidelines, masks are only mandated (as far as the CDC can mandate) to be worn indoors in counties where COVID transmission is “substantial” or “high.” At this point in time, we are fortunate, Rockingham County and the immediately surrounding counties are not in either category. Our level of community transmission is “moderate.” I am happy about that and am grateful for the ways the people of the seacoast have embraced the strategies for keeping COVID at bay, as much as we did. (Here is an article from NPR that contains an interactive map of the US with every county and their “rate of transmission.” https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/28/1021795290/cdc-mask-guidelines-indoors-vaccinated-by-county-covid-spread
The reason why I am doing so is simple. Even though we live in a place with lower transmission rates, we do not live in an isolated bubble. People are travelling this summer. Grandparents are going to see grandkids. Young adults are going to visit colleges. Disney vacations that were postponed are being resumed. Simply put, people are going to places of high transmission and coming home. Unless we take proactive steps to limit it (besides being vaccinated), we could very easily become a place of high transmission. I don’t want to think about the steps we might have to take if this were to occur. We all lived through the last 18 months. I don’t want to revisit that and I highly doubt you do either. I want kids in school (hopefully maskless). I like gathering in the sanctuary and singing and I want no one being anxious or afraid of becoming sick and dying if they were to join us. Vicky is looking to going to California to see friends in September. I have a trip there to run a Spartan race in October and the two of us have a vacation with family to Costa Rica in December (that has already been postponed twice!). I want to do these things. If wearing a mask will help to ensure that happens, I will gladly wear a mask.
But most of all, as a Christian, I am called to care for my neighbor. As I have said before, as a Christian, we forfeit the ability to make the statement of, “That’s my right.” Instead, that statement is turned into the question, “What’s right for my neighbor?” If it is better for the most vulnerable (those with compromised immune systems, children under 12 who can’t get a vaccine, etc…) that I wear a mask, then how could I not?
I also understand that at times masks can be very difficult for people. We are in the summer and it can get hot. Masks can make it more difficult for people to breathe. If you want to come to worship and are vaccinated and wearing a mask can be problematic, no one will kick you out of church if you are not wearing one.
Lastly, this is not a council decision and it is not being mandated by anyone. This is solely my thought and I ask you to join me in it. At our next meeting, I am sure we will talk about our COVID guidelines and what may or may not change.