Worship During Pandemic Times: Sunday, September 19, 2021

 From Rev. Robert this afternoon:

In-Person Services Suspended We have had good compliance with the COVID regulations during our in-person services this month. We have had around 13 to 18 people attending. Due to the very high active case count in the city and county as well as the modest attendance at our in-person services, the Wardens and I have decided that we should suspend in-person services again. Our plan is to return to video services starting [September] 26th* and to continue with that until such time that the active case rates in the county and city are around 250 and trending downward. Obviously video services are not the same thing as meeting in person. They are a temporary measure that reaches the most people. Many of us in the parish are being cautious and prudent. Video services enable us to worship together with familiar faces until such time that we can do so safely in person. Video services have an additional benefit of being flexible. Many have actually enjoyed the "pyjama  approach" to worship. We worship at home. We need not worry about our appearance and we can attend at a time that works for us. Video services have the added benefit of reaching into many more homes than we find folks attending in person, even on an average (non-pandemic) Sunday. Video Services Begin September 26 I would welcome your ideas and involvement with the videos. If you have liked certain things we've tried in the videos, please let me know. If you think some new tweak would be of interest, I would also like to hear of it. And those of you who can make video clips and send large files, we would love to enlarge our stable of participants in the videos. Many hands. Assessing Risk of Spread For a number of months now the Diocese has empowered parishes to consider the local COVID risks and decide for themselves whether to hold in-person or video services. I think some of the reason for this was that case rates have differed between regions. Moreover, during the third wave active COVID case rates were worse in Calgary and other large centres than in many rural areas. However, I would note again that at the beginning (or middle?) of the fourth wave, we find the opposite is the case. At least for Lacombe and Lacombe County. Since Sunday [September 12] our active case rate in Lacombe has been nearly 500 and around 700 in Lacombe County. Calgary is only in the low 300s.* Data from Geospatial data (September 15, 2021) https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm#data-export In Alberta we have been told that a case rate of 200 was considered high and worrisome. The introduction of widespread vaccination has considered to be super helpful, if not essential, though perhaps not an end to the pandemic. The optimism of the July government announcements has not panned out. Nevertheless, we have had a great couple of summer months. The pandemic is not dead yet. We must persevere and support one another in doing so. And we still need to assess the risk of infection, especially considering the current variant (Delta) is four times more contagious than the prior one. I have, therefore, proposed to that we use the American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for labelling and assessing COVID risk. The CDC has a four-level risk assessment for travel advisories: low, moderate, high, and very high. They advise not to travel to countries with "very high" active case rates, even if fully vaccinated.   Level 4: Very high level of COVID-19 (>500 cases/100k)   Level 3: High level of COVID-19 (100-500 cases/100k)   Level 2: Moderate level of COVID-19 (50-99 cases/100k       Level 1: Low level of COVID-19 (0-49 cases/100k) Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/how-level-is-determined.html I propose that when we are empowered by the Diocese to decide for ourselves on the level of risk of holding in-person events, that:     - if cases are rising past the midway point of Level 3, then we should look to suspending in-person services     - if cases are declining past the midway point of Level 3, then we can entertain recommencing in-person services etc... Please see the following link for particulars of church-related practices for the four levels of risk. This is obviously subject to change, but it gives us some objective thresholds to assess risk in our area. https://www.stcyprian.ca/downloads/Covid%20Thresholds%20for%20Services.pdf Diocesan Direction On Wednesday this week the Archbishop sent out a COVID update letter. He has adopted the advice of the COVID Taskforce and is calling for a suspension of services and church activities for four weeks, starting September 26th. After which time, the Taskforce will revisit the decision based on our situation. This diocesan response follows the province's September 15th declaration of a state of public health emergency. There are new temporary provincial measures. Here is the link: https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-public-health-actions.aspx Closing Paragraph from the Archbishop's Letter (Sep 16) "In these difficult times of upheaval and uncertainty, it is even more important that we attend to being prayerful – holding up in prayer our world, especially those in countries who do not yet have vaccines widely available; for our governments, federal, provincial and municipal, as they attempt to steer a course through these troubled waters; for our brothers and sisters in the church, or work of ministry and mission in the midst of the human suffering, anxiety and uncertainty; and for ourselves that we will remain and become even more open to the Spirit's leading as we seek to live out our Lord's commandment to love God and to love our neighbour." The Rev. Robert Sears Incumbent - Parish of St. Cyprian, Lacombe - Parish of St John, Olds Regional Dean - Red Deer / Drumheller Deanery

*Editor's emphasis