Survey: 64 percent of Americans “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” attending in-person worship
“Stories of church outbreaks grow. Last week, a Pentecostal church in northeastern Oregon was linked to the state’s largest coronavirus outbreak to date — some 230 cases. The church held services in defiance of Oregon’s stay-at-home order.” - BPNews
Minnesota (where I live) got our Governor’s o.k. to resume in-person services as of June 1st, under specific guidelines.
My church waited until this past weekend (June 20/21) to start. I was at our Saturday evening service. We had 250 people (the maximum number under the current guidelines) well-socially distanced in our 1,100 seat main auditorium. The previous weekend I attended a service at another local church where I have relatives. About 100 people in their 500 seat auditorium.
Personally I’m not particularly uncomfortable attending. I’m 57, but not high-risk according to known factors. I have no underlying health issues, am not overweight (BMI is 21), and am very fit for my age (I run 5-6 times per week @ about 7:30 minute/mile pace). PLUS I honestly believe I had the virus in March (although couldn’t get tested at that time). Symptoms?: I had a persistent, low-grade fever for at least 5 days, a dry cough for a couple, some weird body aches like I’ve never before experienced, and chills one night that woke me up shivering. (It was not the Flu–and if it was just a cold, it was a strange cold.) And I can identify two ways/places I may have contracted it back then. If it was in fact COVID-19, all-in-all I had a mild case (the actual Flu was far worse when I had it a few years ago, and I’ve had worse colds). I would love to get an antibody test…
Nevertheless I fully understand those who might be at higher risk avoiding the possibility of contracting it. My own church plans to continue to offer fully-online services going forward.
Our church is much smaller (around 100), but there are only a couple of families that have been uncomfortable with attending. Nowhere near 64%. Obviously, we are only one church, but I wonder if that number is more likely to be true with a large congregation. Not that the percentage of people who think that way would inherently be greater, but with larger numbers of people present, the possibility of infection being present would be *much* higher, thus changing the calculation members are making.
Dave Barnhart
[Larry Nelson] I’m 57, but not high-risk according to known factors. I have no underlying health issues, am not overweight (BMI is 21), and am very fit for my age (I run 5-6 times per week @ about 7:30 minute/mile pace).
Nice to meet Superman in person. I’m 45, and the fastest pace I’ve run in the last few years is an 8:05 minute mile.
No, hardly. =)
But I’ve always been fit. A week ago I was doing intervals and for the first one my Garmin had me at .50 mile in 3:15 (so 6:30 pace), but I can’t hold that for a full mile. In my younger days I raced as a Category 3 cyclist. My VO2 Max is still high.
Larry, if you’ve ever given blood…or if you haven’t…the Red Cross had sent me an email tempting me to donate with the offer of free antibody testing. That was in southeastern PA. Looks like it’s still a thing you could look into:
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/covid-19-antibody-testin…
Michael Osborne
Philadelphia, PA
[M. Osborne]Larry, if you’ve ever given blood…or if you haven’t…the Red Cross had sent me an email tempting me to donate with the offer of free antibody testing. That was in southeastern PA. Looks like it’s still a thing you could look into:
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/covid-19-antibody-testing…
I also have my annual check-up coming up in a few weeks. I am hoping when they draw blood & test it for everything else that they can do an antibody test too.
I’m aware of nearby churches that have abandoned even basic distancing.
“Uncomfortable” doesn’t seem like the right word for how I see that and feel about it. But do I want to be in the building under those conditions? Not even a little bit.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I just read a survey from last year that said that only 23% of Americans regularly attended church each week. That means 77% did not even before COVID-19. I would be curious what the stats would be if if only the 23% who already regularly attend were surveyed.
Discussion