The government of California revealed its guidelines for reopening churches and temples across the state amid mounting pressure from protesters and from the president himself Donald trump, but also at a time when at least two counties link new outbreaks of coronavirus to the performance of religious services.
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Under the new state guide, religious centers throughout California will be able to resume their activities with the condition of limiting attendance at masses and services to 25% of their capacity or to a maximum of 100 people, having as a parameter the figure that is less.
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However, the regulation requires religious institutions to receive direct approval from the public health departments of each county, so in regions such as the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles most churches, temples and synagogues will remain closed as established by local curfews.
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“The county’s confinement order prohibits conglomerations of any size – religious or otherwise – unless there is a specific exception. (At the moment) there are no exceptions for religious services or in-person ceremonies, “the Santa Clara County Health Department said in a statement.
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Health officials from other counties in the region joined the call for churches and temples to continue to provide online services that allow residents to participate from their homes.
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Case monitoring
As California counties prepare to resume religious services under state government endorsement, local health authorities have warned that at least two coronavirus outbreaks are linked to religious temples.
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Mendocino County Health Officials confirmed this weekend that six other people who participated in a Mother’s Day event held at the Assembly of God church in Redwood Valley tested positive for coronavirus, so now a third of local infections are linked to that temple.
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That is why the state Health Department will evaluate the impacts of these measures in three weeks to determine if the resumption of religious services causes an increase in the number of deaths or hospitalizations due to the coronavirus during that period.
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Churches that decide to reopen will have to comply with dozens of preventive measures similar to those that have been made public for other sectors, such as following disinfection protocols, social distancing and the use of mouth masks, in addition to taking the temperature of the staff and assistants and considering the elimination of choirs and singing groups, an activity that “dramatically increases the risk of coronavirus transmission”.
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Just last Friday, President Trump declared religious institutions across the United States as “essential” and said his government would overturn the states’ ban on reopening them, although he did not explain whether this would be done through an executive order.
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Retail restrictions lifted
The state government also included this Monday guides to lift the restrictions with which we still retail businesses operated in CaliforniaThus, its full reopening will no longer be limited to the direct approval of the state health authorities, as has been the case until now.
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However, the government clarified that retail establishments belonging to phase 3 they must remain closed. Such is the case of beauty salons, barber shops, nail care businesses, gyms and tattoo centers, all considered high risk places for the spread of coronavirus.
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Establishments like bookstores, sporting goods stores, flower shops, jewelry stores, clothing stores, music stores, toy stores, shoe stores, antique stores, furniture stores, cosmetic stores and beauty supplies throughout the state will be able to allow starting this Monday the entrance of customers regardless of whether they are in closed shopping centers, as long as they respect the rules of social distancing and other preventive measures.
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But the new change to the state curfew in that regard also requires direct approval from local health officials. In the Bay Area, for example, only Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties have allowed restaurants and businesses to receive customers inside.
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Everything indicates that the rest of the region will remain in the initial phase 2 of reopening, in which retail businesses can operate with home delivery service or for customers to pick up products at the doors of establishments, which is known in English as ‘curbside pickup’.
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The guides for reopening In the San Francisco Bay, they establish that retail stores must have immediate access to a sidewalk, street, alley or parking lot so that customers can pick up their products, indicating that businesses that are inside closed shopping malls will not be able to reopen.
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