May 28, 2021
Task Force update regarding Covid 19 Rules
Dear Church Family,
As you know, the Church’s COVID-19 task force has been continuously monitoring the state of the pandemic for nearly 1 full year. We have used a variety of objective and publicly-available data points to assess the local risk of in-person worship to our congregation, and to make recommendations to Session concerning appropriate safety precautions and procedures. You may also be aware that with the continued roll-out of numerous safe and effective vaccines, we have seen marked recent declines in COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality, at each the state, local and national levels.
The graph below shows that the risk of in-person worship-related COVID-19 transmission events has dropped to and stayed at what the task force deems ‘moderate’. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently updated their COVID-19-related safety guidelines - for vaccinated individuals, it is now considered low-risk to gather in and outdoors without a mask, whereas those yet to receive a full vaccination regimen are encouraged to continue mask-wearing.
Please know that the task force will be meeting next week to consider all of these new and promising circumstances, and to make recommendations for how we can continue to safely and further re-open in-person worship services ahead of the next Session meeting. We understand that everyone is eager to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, as are we, but we ask for your continued patience and prayers over the next 2 weeks as we convene to chart the path forward for June and beyond. Safe in-person worship is the goal of everyone, and it will take concerted and honest efforts from all of us to achieve this. If you haven’t already, please consider getting vaccinated. If you prefer not to be vaccinated, please do you part to keep your brothers and sisters safe by continuing to wear a mask.
Any new policies or procedures recommended by the task force and implemented by the Session will be communicated in future newsletter updates. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned!
In Christ,
The FPCT COVID-19 Task Force
