Updated June 13, 2020
Disclaimer: COVID-19 is a pandemic in flux. As the number of active cases and hospital ICU occupancy changes and new research comes out, recommendations will change. Please check with your church, doctor, local health departments, and www.CDC.gov for the most up-to-date information and guidance on meeting in person.
As most people know by now, COVID-19 is mainly targeting the old, immunocompromised, and individuals with underlying health issues. But it bears reminding that normal, healthy young adults are also getting severely ill.
Importantly, children of all ages have been afflicted by a condition now termed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), which has led to some deaths in normal, healthy kids with no underlying health issues. MIS-C and healthy young adults getting severely ill is a small risk, but it is a real risk. Please bear this in mind.
However, at some point we all take risk. Driving down the freeway could lead to a fatal accident but we do it everyday. Children attending school even when there is no pandemic could lead to meningitis, but we do it everyday.
The key is calculating risk and minimizing it without going overboard - which is a very tricky thing to do with a new virus such as COVID-19.
If you are older than 60 years, have serious health issues, or are immunocompromised - you should not join an in-person meeting of a small group until further notice from public health officials.
If you are living with anyone meeting any of these criteria, you should strongly consider not joining an in-person meeting of a small group as you are putting that individual at real risk.
If you do not meet either of the above two criteria, meeting in a small group may be reasonable with the following parameters:
2. If cases of COVID-19 in your city are rising, it is probably better not to meet in person. A great resource for this in Houston is www.TMC.edu.
3. If you do meet, SINGING is one of the biggest risks. It is highly advisable not to sing indoors at all. Either do praise time outside (with masks ideally) or skip praise time altogether. Even with masks on, singing in a confined space is a serious risk for spread – many people do not wear snug fitting masks and mask quality is highly variable.
4. It is advisable for mealtime to be done outdoors as it necessitates removing your masks. If you do eat indoors, you should be 6 feet apart ideally. Talking to one another for 10-15 minutes in close proximity without masks is an easy way for COVID-19 to spread.
5. Whoever is handling food prep must be masked when serving food. Everyone should thoroughly wash hands prior to eating.
6. Word time, sharing time, and prayer time can be done indoors, but outdoors is still preferable when reasonable. Either way, try to remain 6 feet apart. If sitting indoors, good air circulation is very important: turn on the AC and ceiling fan and open windows when possible.
7. Do not hug or shake hands. Elbow bumps are ok.
8. Try to keep any indoor portion of the small group as short as possible. Consider moving rooms when feasible for each segment of the small group meeting to keep the surrounding air fresh and new. Open, airy rooms with good air circulation are the safest.
9. Should you meet in-person, especially if the meeting is indoors, the smaller the group the safer. At this time, 10 people (including children) would be a reasonable cap to your group size.
10. Anyone who is possibly sick should ABSOLUTELY NOT come.
11.Anyone who cannot afford a two week quarantine period should they later find out someone in the group tested positive, should NOT come.
12. Anyone who is or is living with someone who is awaiting a COVID-19 test* or has recently been diagnosed with COVID-19 or is displaying COVID-19 symptoms should NOT come. See scenarios below to help with timeframe on returning.
*For the purposes of this guidance and the information below, a COVID-19 test refers to the nasopharyngeal nucleic acid swab test and not the antibody test – there is a major difference between the two tests that is beyond the scope of this guidance.
· Close contact with COVID but No Test Pending
o Safe to return after 14 day quarantine at home AND no symptoms develop during that time.
· Asymptomatic and COVID Test Pending
o It is definitely safest to wait until the COVID test is back. However if the individual is completely symptom free AND wearing a mask the ENTIRE time, it is reasonable to partake but would not advise.
· Symptomatic and COVID Test Pending
o Do not join until the test result returns AND the individual meets the criteria in one of the following scenarios.
· Asymptomatic and Positive COVID Test
o Safe to return when either of below criteria met:
§ 10 days after the first test was performed and remains asymptomatic.
OR
§ 2 negative nasopharyngeal swab specimens collected at least 24 hours apart. Tests for clearance should be done a minimum of 5 days after the initial POSITIVE test was performed.
· Symptomatic and Positive COVID Test
o Safe to return when either of below criteria met:
§ It has been 10 days since the onset of symptoms AND no fever for 3 days AND significant improvement of symptoms (cough, runny nose, etc.).
OR
§ 2 negative nasopharyngeal swab specimens collected at least 24 hours apart. Tests for clearance should be done a minimum of 5 days after the initial POSITIVE test was performed.
· Symptomatic but Negative COVID Test
§ Safe to return when 24 hours without fever without the use of fever-reducing medication AND significant improvement of symptoms.
Some of these recommendations may seem over-the-top, but COVID-19 warrants a high level of vigilance. It is a very serious illness and there is a long way to go before the pandemic is over.
The safest thing of course is to meet through video-conferencing. At the present moment, it is this author’s preference until the risk further decreases.
Remember when you get together, you are not only potentially sharing germs with the people in your small group, but you are also sharing germs with everyone they live with and everyone they live with may be sharing germs with you. The larger the group, the greater the risk to everyone at the meeting.
Hope this guidance helps as you do the Lord's work!
