Dear friends,
The Vestry did a periodic review of our COVID-19 precautions yesterday and directed the Senior Warden and me to send a letter to the parish to keep everyone in the loop as to what we are doing to keep everyone safe.
Today marks 19 months since we began the new normal of COVID precautions. In that time, a few of us have been sick, many of us have rearranged and postponed parts of our lives, and all of us have been looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Conditions are in some ways much better now than even a few months ago. Many people have been vaccinated and the other precautions we have learned to follow have done much to keep the most vulnerable among us – children and those with chronic illnesses – from becoming ill.
We commend all those who have kept St Thomas’s going and kept St. Thomas’s safe. If it were possible to know when the first COVID-free day will come, we might be able to ask you to hold on just until then, but we do not yet know when or if that day will arrive. And so, for now, we can only ask everyone to remain diligent. The Vestry reviews its COVID safety
measures periodically, and will revise them – to ease or tighten them – as conditions dictate.
As a reminder, these are the policies that are in place:
• Mask-wearing is mandatory for those over the age of 2 years who have not been fully vaccinated and is strongly encouraged for those who have been.
• We encourage everyone who is able to receive any of the available COVID-19 immunizations to do so.
• Maintenance of a minimum distance of 3 feet between those not in routine household contact is recommended whenever possible.
• The use of hand sanitizer before receiving Communion is recommended.
• The distribution of Communion wine in any form is suspended.
If you have questions about any of these precautions or how they affect you and your family, please contact the church office. We are fortunate to have several people with clinical and public health training in the parish. Any of them will be glad to speak with you about the trends in COVID-19 rates and what they mean for us locally.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Howell Sasser, Rector
Connie Cooper, Senior Warden