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Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020

Do anti-coronavirus measures generally ban outdoor church services?

Jacqueline Agustin, Gigafact
no

State and local measures intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus generally follow Centers for Disease Control guidelines permitting outdoor church services. Per the CDC, authorities should not recommend or impose safety guidelines for religious services that are stricter than those for comparable activities. The CDC recommends strategies for holding safe services including wearing masks and forgoing shared worship objects like offering plates and Communion cup. From California to Connecticut, religious communities have met outside for months, adhering to local rules around crowd size and social distancing.

In September, five attendees at an outdoor church gathering in Moscow, Idaho, were arrested for violating local orders requiring masks and social distancing—not for holding an outdoor service.

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