Vaccinated & Unvaccinated Worshiping Together

Well at last a group of mostly clergy are advocating caution in worship as the pandemic seems to be diminishing!  

The real problem is that vaccinated and unvaccinated people (including children) are worshiping together. 

This group have obviously been listening to epidemiologists, and realize that vaccinated people who know the risks of worship with large numbers of unvaccinated persons are not going to worship in person until the new cases per day in the surrounding area are very much reduced. 

And of course cases may not be reduced if the Delta form of the virus begins its own vaccination program among the unvaccinated. 

 “And what we don’t want to do is to engage in any kind of stigmatization, or public shaming of people who are not vaccinated for whatever reason it may be.”

That is the  heart of the problem. My answer is that vaccination is good for myself and the community. I want to display that I am vaccinated, and encourage others to be vaccinated My answer to the unvaccinated is that their real choice is between being inoculated by the vaccine or by the virus. And its going to be much worse to be inoculated by the virus. I do not feel sate around those who have not been inoculated (including children) for any more than a few minutes and then only with a mask and social distancing. Sorry I don't want your beliefs and behavior to endanger myself and loved ones! Sometimes tough love is necessary for everyone's sake. 

This is a real problem for congregations.

Worship inside with many unvaccinated persons and children is not even relatively safe unless you have a very good air circulation system, and the unvaccinated wear masks and practice social distancing.

Worship inside by vaccinated persons without children would be safe, Everyone could sing, no masks or social distancing required. We have youth masses; we have had senior citizen hours at stores without policing. Why not senior masses that those who are unvaccinated would be asked not to attend, or perhaps to view by monitors in a parish hall with masks and social distancing.

Worship leaders really not cannot avoid taking sides about vaccination.  If they choose to encourage vaccinated people to return to church without facing the problem of the unvaccinated, they have chosen the side of the unvaccinated. No thank  you I am not returning until the virus disappears. 

Keep COVID-19 restrictions during in-person worship, ecumenical guide suggests

The Ecumenical Consultation on Protocols for Worship, Fellowship, and Sacraments, a group of clergy, scientists and other experts, advised congregations to take it slower at houses of worship, where vaccinated and unvaccinated people may occupy the same space.

The group suggests limiting touching except where Christian rituals, such as laying on of hands for confirmation, require it; avoiding congregational singing and playing wind instruments indoors; wearing masks when preaching indoors — or outdoors closer than 16 feet from listeners. Singing, which has been shown to spread the virus especially effectively, should be limited to soloists or ensembles kept well distanced.

The 35-page guide takes a “relatively conservative approach,” Phillips said, because its writers think it is safest to keep wearing masks until federal officials declare it is safe to remove them, regardless of vaccination status.

“We will for some time have people who are not vaccinated yet,” said Phillips, associate professor of historical theology and Christian worship at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. “And what we don’t want to do is to engage in any kind of stigmatization, or public shaming of people who are not vaccinated for whatever reason it may be.”

So while outdoor gatherings can be an hour or longer, indoor worship services should be 30 to 45 minutes, “depending on the rate of air exchange,” the guide recommends, noting that, while its recommendation for “maximum time indoors assumes at least 4 to 6 air exchanges per hour,” many buildings don’t come close.

“While the CDC guidance issued in late April 2021 considers choral singing indoors safe for vaccinated people wearing masks, it still ranks choral singing indoors for those who are unvaccinated as ‘least safe,’” the guide notes.

Participants filled the webinar’s chat function with comments and questions about how to handle everything from air quality to musicians who decline to get vaccinated.

“Our adamantly unvaccinated and unmasked song leader/accompanist is still Zooming from home although more and more of us are attending in person,” wrote one participant. “Most congregants don’t want her back in the building right now.”