How our gatherings will be different after we reopen the building to meeting in person
In general, we will take a cautious approach to reopening.
The UUA recommended (without authority to enforce, of course) that churches not gather in person, and that they plan for virtual operations through May 2021.
We may not be as cautious as that, but we will heed the requirements of the Marin Department of Public Health, and we will pay attention to the guidance from the UUA, CDC and the State of California.
We will continue to offer broadcasts on Zoom, including Sunday services, even after we are again meeting face-to-face.
We will ask staff and congregants to screen themselves for symptoms of COVID, and not to come to the building if they suspect they have symptoms but have not yet been tested.
Staff and congregants should wear gloves for commonly touched items.
We will post signage regarding COVID precautions.
We will open windows, or use heating or air-conditioning when people are in the building.
We will try to conduct face-to-face services and meetings outside when possible.
The building will remain closed to visitors outside of scheduled services and meetings.
Similarly, we will close areas in the building where people are likely to interact.
We will close drinking fountains.
We may need to establish directional hallways with, for example, one-way flow from the lobby to the Minister's office and the Fireside room, and with return traffic to the lobby routed through the Fireside Room exit to the courtyard and the lobby.
We may need to limit the restrooms to use by one person at a time-including the restrooms near the Minister's office.
We may create additional meeting times per day, or per week, to reduce group size.
Families and individuals will sit together, and maintain six feet of social distancing from each other. Children will not interact with each other, but will stay with their parents/guardians.
In a first phase we would gather in face-to-face groups of no more than 10; i
n a second phase, in groups of no more than 50.
These face-to-face restrictions will apply to weddings, funerals, church fundraisers, committee meetings, staff working on the premises, and renters.
For Sunday services, we will arrive and sit in the sanctuary without gathering in the lobby or elsewhere.
Additionally, the Sunday service will be televised from the sanctuary to a second or third appropriately sized audience in the Fireside Room or the Wright Room.
We will wear masks, and will provide masks to visitors who arrive without one.
We will wash our hands at hand washing stations before entering the building, and will use hand sanitizer at locations in the building.
We will not shake hands or hug-greeters will maintain a six-foot social distance from new visitors.
There will perhaps be no choir, congregational singing or group recitation -- the exhalation involved in these activities projects considerably farther than six feet.
Similarly, there will be no objects which many of us touch, such as hymnals, donation baskets, or paper orders of service -- the order of service will be projected on a screen.
There will be no shared food at coffee hour, the preparation and service of coffee needs to be thought through carefully, and we are still studying how to assure that congregants stay six feet away from each other during coffee hour. It is possible that it is unsafe to have a face-to-face coffee hour.
How and whether to conduct classes for K-1 children is still under study.
We will instigate a process for tracking who has been in the building, so that if someone later tests positive for COVID we will know who else should also be tested because they were in the building at the same time.
We will need to help prevent accidental face-to-face groupings in the parking lot. Some advisors suggest blocking off every other parking space.
The Long Range Planning Task Force will keep you posted on our progress and deliberations.
