Holding in-person church in spite of COVID restrictions here in the midwest...

[jfro18]

I'm actually really surprised by this - DW's ward held in-person sacrament meeting on Sunday despite the new COVID restrictions which had gone in place a week earlier limiting any meetings to 10 people or less.

DW went, which is not a surprise since she is TBM through and through and she needs sacrament which I am obviously not doing, but I was shocked the church here would be so irresponsible and, to put it nicely, against the orders of the state. Not sure if they're nervous about getting members back or just among those who are trying to protest what they see as infringements against their rights, but yikes.

[wtfluff]

They're doing the same here in the Morridor. In fact, the current Morridor restrictions say you should not meet together socially with anyone outside of your household. The restrictions also specifically point out that the restrictions don't apply to religious gatherings.

If the Q15 were at all inspired, or cared at all about their followers, they should have shut down in-person meetings the instant that infection and hospitalization numbers started climbing - anywhere in on the ENTIRE PLANET.

And with that I'd better shut down my fingers before they start spewing words and phrases that probably shouldn't be spewed on NOM...

[Hagoth]

They're doing the same here in the Morridor.

Did anybody see the CBS evening news yesterday? They're actually sending correspondents to Utah now to report on what a poor job we're doing here. The highlight was when they interviewed some nurses who said the most disappointing thing that keeps happening is when they finally get someone off the ventilator after fighting for their life only to get lectured about how it's all a hoax.

But gathering to bolster our mutual belief in ancient transoceanic submarines with magic glow-rocks is essential.

[græy]

Our state also has restrictions on gatherings of more than 10, but explicit exceptions for religious gatherings.

I made sure to arrive early to our mandatory in-person stake leadership meeting the other day so that I could grab a seat in the back by myself. They made sure safety was a TOP priority by taping off every other row of pews, guaranteeing that everyone had at least 2 feet of space between themselves and the people in front and behind them. Within rows, people were sitting next to each other with no amount of social distancing.

I had a good deal of space between me and any other people as the meeting started, but people kept filtering in for another 20 minutes and kept creeping closer to my spot.

Signs were posted at the entrance stating that masks were mandatory, but several people took them off to sing because idiocy.

I eventually left the room for about 20 minutes (just wandered the hallway/parking lot) and sat in the last possible row in the gym by myself when I came back.

I think leaders are far more scared about people not coming back and "loosing their souls" than they are about any of them winding up on ventilators or dying.

[Red Ryder]

You should all start calling people claiming to be a contact tracer letting them know they have been exposed and stay home for 14 days.

My in laws have been attending. They had 250 people in their ward this past Sunday. Most wore a mask then took it off when the meeting started. All Singing by the congregation.

[Advocate]

Surprised and not surprised. Surprised because Salt Lake has been cautious on this. Not surprised because Salt Lake ceded control to local area leaders, and you are going to get all types with local area leaders.

[moksha]

Too bad members cannot be quarantined in place after each Sacrament meeting. Think how holy they would be upon leaving the chapel.

Otherwise, they could be covey spreaders. Covey spreaders don't care. https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9 ... e=emb_logo

[2bizE]

A few fun facts about our regular masks we wear:
1) masks are about 80% effective blocking coronavirus going out of our mask with normal breathing
2) singing or talking loud causes a huge reduction in mask effectiveness
3) when singing, the virus is aerosolized through the masks and can remain floating in the air for more than an hour. In other words, when it is winter and the warm air is circulating in the chapel, the virus expelled while singing the opening hymn will have time to circulate to everyone in the congregation before the hour is up.

[Linked]

Signs were posted at the entrance stating that masks were mandatory, but several people took them off to sing because idiocy.

They were singing!?! That's like the really obvious spread method! Wow. Hang in there græy. The things that seem to be important to those people don't square with what I consider reasonable.

I think leaders are far more scared about people not coming back and "loosing their souls" than they are about any of them winding up on ventilators or dying.

I suspect this is true. Physical death isn't as permanent as spiritual death. Unless they got it wrong.

[Hagoth]

Has anybody heard the name Satan associated with COVID yet? As in "Satan is using COVID to weaken your faith and keep you from attending church?"

[græy]

Has anybody heard the name Satan associated with COVID yet? As in "Satan is using COVID to weaken your faith and keep you from attending church?"

I'm told that Satan is actually a pretty smart guy, just somewhat misguided. If he can cause so much damage with a pandemic like this one, why wouldn't he just keep sending a new pandemic every few years? Surely, he would have learned this trick with the plague, or Spanish flu. And yet, he waits to capitalize on it only every hundred or few hundred years?

Or maybe it is really hard to make a viral pandemic like this, even for a demigod.

Either way, if this is the work of Satan, is this the best he can do?

[Advocate]

Signs were posted at the entrance stating that masks were mandatory, but several people took them off to sing because idiocy.

They were singing!?! That's like the really obvious spread method! Wow. Hang in there græy. The things that seem to be important to those people don't square with what I consider reasonable.

Here in the SE United States they have us singing but with masks on. It sounds about the same (like a funeral march) as it did before covid.

[hmb]

Here in the SE United States they have us singing but with masks on. It sounds about the same (like a funeral march) as it did before covid.

You would think that being muffled, even slightly, would be an improvement. But then I think about the ward choir and remember that no amount of wrapping up the mouth and nose could help.