Dear siblings in Christ,

It certainly seems like this pandemic has been going on “more than long enough,” and we were hopeful that we were heading in positive directions as we turn towards Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Unfortunately, this week our Porter County indicators turned back to Orange, meaning we have returned to a higher level of risk and infection.  It is a sharp reminder that this pandemic is not over, and it is not fully under control.  With this unwelcome change, this note is to update you on changes to our Covid plans, and to share some of the things we’ve learned at this lingering stage of the pandemic.

As you know, our beloved practices of congregational singing remain the most restricted in our planning, something our community misses dearly.  By now we’re all aware that Covid is spread primarily through breath, and scientific studies determined that singing does in fact emit more particles than speaking(1); others discovered that singing with a mask lowered them back down to the same level as speaking without a mask(2).  Which sounds great, until we remember that Covid exposure with unmasked speaking, within 6 feet and for 15 minutes, has always been a threshold for contact tracing and quarantining.

We’ve also done our own research on our Sanctuary and HVAC system.  As you remember we installed UV sterilization systems, and our system is set to constantly bring in a percentage of fresh air with every cycle.  We calculated our approximate “air exchange rate” to give us a sense of how frequently the system “turns over” the air in the Sanctuary and cycles it through, which EPA and other guidance has stressed is important to determining safety inside buildings(3,4).

We drew on these facts and factors in these past weeks when indicators were looking promising, and reintroducing limited singing back into our worship.  We chose these pieces because they are shorter, and spaced in the serve to leave time between them.  We were looking forward to continuing that forward momentum, but unfortunately the turn in our county indicators this week means we will have to back up yet again.

For now, we are again restricting our singing to the end of the service, when we can all leave the Sanctuary following; we continue to require masks for those not vaccinated, and strongly encourage them for those who are vaccinated.  Everyone will need a mask for when we sing.  Please note: we do NOT anticipate putting in-person worship on hiatus again; we are in a very different place in the pandemic than when that became necessary!

Please continue to pray with us for our community, our beloveds, and for the day this pandemic will at last be under control!

Pastor Tim & Pastor Erica