As we approach the Holiday Season, the Diocesan Taskforce for Operations wants to remind parishes to remain vigilant protecting the health of one another. As of November 12, all counties within our Diocese remain at a High Level of Community Transmission of COVID-19 as defined by the CDC.
Here are the current recommendations of the Taskforce, based on the most recent CDC guidance.
Indoor masking for all persons should continue while in an area of high or substantial level of community transmission (currently all of PA as of November 12, 2021. See link #2 below to access current information)
Vaccination is strongly recommended.
Individuals should be respectful of each other’s personal space in all indoor settings.
Parishes should continue to maintain attendance logs to facilitate contact tracing, if necessary.
External groups and individuals should follow the same guidelines established for church members.
Communion should continue in one kind only (bread). If wine is desired, individual paper or plastic cups should be used and respectfully discarded. The use of the common cup or the practice of intinction is strongly discouraged.
If an individual exhibits symptoms, or is not vaccinated and has had known contact with someone COVID-19 positive, please follow the CDC guidelines found at this LINK.
The Bishop, diocesan staff, and The Task Force on Operations have been tracking COVID-19 INCIDENT RATE PER 100,000 PER 7 DAYS / New Cases / PCR % Positivity, by county. To view the most recent Diocesan COVID TRACKING SHEET, please CLICK HERE.
For more detailed CDC guidance, please CLICK HERE.
To access the CDC’s COVID-DATA-TRACKER for county level transmission status, please CLICK HERE.
