New COVID-19 guidelines were issued by the state this weekend for places of worship following Friday night's U.S Supreme Court decision lifting the ban on the California's ban on indoor worship services.
The California Department of Public Health posted the new guidelines on Saturday that limit attendance at indoor services in areas of the state with widespread (Purple Tier) or substantial (Red Tier) virus spread to 25 percent of a building’s capacity.
“We will continue to enforce the restrictions the Supreme Court left in place and, after reviewing the decision, we will issue revised guidelines for worship services to continue to protect the lives of Californians,” the governor’s press secretary, Daniel Lopez, said in a statement from Gov. Newsom's office.
In a 6-3 decision issued late Friday night, the Supreme Court ruled that California cannot enforce its ban on indoor church services because of the coronavirus pandemic. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by South Bay Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista and a suit filed by a church in Pasadena. The high court said that the state can restrict indoor worship services at 25% of a building’s capacity and the state can restrict singing and chanting if it chooses to.
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