It was very different for a lot of weekend worshippers in San Diego County.
With the state announcing last week that the COVID guidelines no longer included limits on the capacity or number of people who could be indoors for church services, the doors opened at more churches and other places of worship over the weekend.
After the many months of churches holding only in-your-car drive-in style worship services or only on-line services, more have now opened up for indoor services.
Some churches started doing it weeks or even a few months ago despite the state’s COVID restriction as court battles were going on. The Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of churches in a couple of cases and now the state lifting its indoor capacity limits, the doors at churches all across the county have opened.
While county health agency says there have been 72 outbreaks of the virus at faith-based sites since March of last year, that number is about the same as have occurred at restaurants without bars and health care locations.
But with about a third of the county’s adults now fully vaccinated, the risk is lower and with the Governor having set the date of June 15th for all the current restrictions to end, there is hope that the doors of churches won’t be closing again, ever.
And at a time when many, young and old, are still dealing with the emotional, mental and spiritual impacts of the pandemic, that’s definitely worth praising!
(Photo Getty Images)