The United Church of Underhill’s Re-entry Team met this week to consider revising our existing COVID-19 guidance. There are brighter days ahead!
Effective immediately, we will use the following measures:
- Masks are now optional during worship and for other activities in the church building
- Masks will still be required for adults working with younger children, particularly in the nursery
- Exhaust fans will continue to be on during worship and the front and rear internal doors of the sanctuary will be left open to promote air flow.
- Food may now be served at the discretion of host groups
- The duration of worship will continue to be about 45 minutes to limit the time people are together indoors
- If you are feeling ill, please stay home
Over the next few weeks, our worship services will begin to include more opportunities for congregational singing. You can learn more from the Center on Congregational Song about how high vaccination rates and low community spread make singing safer in our current moment than it has been in the past.
While we hope this is good news for our congregation, we also know that COVID is not going away. A new Omicron variant is already beginning to circulate, and we anticipate there will be rises and falls in the number of cases in the future. As of this writing, Chittenden County is in the green CDC low-risk category. Area schools and towns have dropped or are in the process of dropping their indoor masking mandates, yet still, many are choosing to keep the masks on.
We imagine the same will be true at church. We encourage small groups and ministries to find the mode of meeting (in-person or virtual; masks required or optional; indoors or outdoors) that best meets the needs of group members.
For those who may not yet be ready or otherwise able to attend worship in person, we continue to invite you to participate virtually through on-line streaming. Our doors are open, our hearts are open, our arms are open, and we want everyone to know there is a place for you at the United Church of Underhill.
We welcome your comments and questions,
The UCU Re-entry Team (reentry@ucu.church)
Dan Manz, Liz Manz, Jen Mihok, Robin Simard & Dianne Sisson
