The Franconia UMC Healthy Church Team has continued to meet and discuss how best to ensure the health and safety of our congregation and our community with particular focus on the most recent CDC guidelines which provide mask wearing recommendations based on county Community Level. As you may be aware from our last correspondence in late February, the Healthy Church Team determined that to ensure the maximum protection for the most vulnerable in our congregation and in our community, we would continue to require the wearing of masks for in person worship. The team met this week and has determined, with respect to worship, that we will continue with this practice through Easter Sunday, as we anticipate an increased number of persons attending services and want to ensure the greatest degree of protection for all attending Holy Week and Easter services. We will meet to further evaluate this after Easter.
We have also determined with respective to small group meetings that, given the low CDC Community Level for Fairfax County, those groups will be permitted to allow for optional mask wearing if all who are attending that group agree that is appropriate. The leader of each group will consult discretely with each attendee to ascertain their individual preference. If any attendee feels uncomfortable in a mask optional setting, the group will continue to be fully masked.
The Healthy Church Team will continue to monitor the data and will be periodically meeting to discuss any change in circumstances which may warrant a change to our church policy. Please be in prayer for the Healthy Church Team in its continued deliberations, and for all who have been affected by this pandemic.