July 14, 2021
 
Dear WSPC Family,
 
As many of you heard, on June 30 Governor Inslee returned most activities to usual capacity and operations for Washington State. This good news is based on a marked drop in Covid-19 cases over the past few months, which is a result of the high percentage of residents vaccinated against Covid-19.
 
If you are fully vaccinated, you can largely resume normal activities. Vaccination protects against infection, reduces transmission and is highly protective against serious complications and death from Covid-19. For you, masking and social distancing are now optional for both indoor and outdoor activities. (See CDC and WA State links below.)
 
Despite the return to normalcy for many people, we need to be reminded that our fight against this deadly virus is not over. The fight now shifts largely to protecting those who are unvaccinated and are therefore still vulnerable to Covid-19 infection and the serious complications that frequently follow. Unfortunately, more than 30% of King County residents have yet to receive their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, including all children under 12 years of age. As a result, the decline in Covid-19 infections leveled off at a low but still significant number of daily cases. The potential for a new spike in cases remains as the rate of new cases is increasing in July.
 
Therefore, if you are not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated, you are still at risk for Covid-19 infection, transmission, and serious complications. Masking is still required for indoor activities and is strongly recommended for outdoor public gatherings when you have close contact with others. Social distancing is also recommended. Both masking and social distancing primarily serve to protect you from getting infected and from transmitting the virus to others in case you are infected.
 
The CDC recently announced that the Delta variant of Covid-19 has become the predominant strain in the U.S. This variant is much more transmissible than previous strains and is causing huge spikes in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths around the world where vaccination rate is low. The good news is that current vaccines can protect us against the Delta variant. But for those who remain unvaccinated, we need to do as much as we can to protect against this strain.
 
With all of this in mind, what does that mean for WSPC?

Worship Services
We will now conduct one worship service at 9am for everyone. We will continue to provide online / Livestream worship at 9am for those who cannot attend in-person.

Registration for worship is no longer required. Please do not come if you are sick and let us know if you become sick after attending any church activity.
For those vaccinated, masking and social distancing are no longer required (Reminder – it’s still ok to wear a mask). We will retain 3 pews at the back of the main floor, the pews in the narthex immediately behind the main doors and all of Neale Room for those who desire more social distancing.
For those unvaccinated (or not fully vaccinated), masking and social distancing is still required. We have designated seating upstairs for you. This is truly for your own protection as well as for the sake of others who are also not vaccinated.
Children under 12 years of age are welcome to join their vaccinated family members on the main floor or to sit as a family upstairs (with masks on while in the building of course).
Connect Groups If you are meeting in person we strongly recommend masks for anyone without the vaccine, particularly if you are indoors.
 
Is the church building open? The building is available and being used on an appointment basis for smaller group gatherings. Staff are usually onsite Tuesday-Friday (call first – summer vacations mean there will be some exceptions).
 
When do we next evaluate these practices? Church Leadership checks the King County “Key Indicators of Covid-19 Activity” web page every week. We will revise our current guidelines either when we reach the CDC metric for “low transmission” or the week before Labor Day, whichever comes first.
 
We are so grateful to be emerging from this pandemic together – grateful for God’s grace that continues to meet us – grateful especially for the good humor, patience and faithfulness of all of you.
 
May God bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you!

WSPC Coronavirus Task Force
 
 
 
CDC Guidance for Unvaccinated people:
 
For Washington state masking guidelines: