Sorry for your loss

peachbasket said:

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I just lost my favorite uncle and a cousin (his daughter) to covid19 in the last 10 days. They were almost certainly infected through community spread in a small rural west Texas church that has had multiple hospitalizations and at least one other death in the last month. While my uncle's family was reasonably cautious, that church membership had been relatively relaxed relative to the seriousness of the virus. Please don't cave now. We have a vaccine being rolled out although U.S. deaths continue at a record pace. A couple more months with masking, distancing, and possibly even some city and state restrictions could get us to public vaccinations at a level to achieve herd immunity without thousands of deaths that would occur otherwise.

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What do you mean by this?

Prayers for your family

Sorry for your loss.

peachbasket said:

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Uncle was 70+ and diabetic. Cousin was 50+ and healthy. I think a quarter of the congregation are related to me although I don't live there. Several other relatives have tested positive with only mild symptoms, including my aunt (wife of deceased).

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First of all, sorry for your loss. Favorite uncles are special whether that is your uncle or you get to be that uncle. There are many sad cases of death and extreme illness from this virus. I'll admit that four to five months ago I thought the pandemic was fading away as cases went so very low and I knew of very few people that had been infected and only one to any severe effects. Recently I have had many infected friends and family, more than a few very ill and some friends with parents and others dying. While no one in my immediate family has had it yet, it seems like it is just a matter of time until one or a few of us get it.

I want to make one point for you to consider about your take on the situation that brought about your uncle and cousin's infection. If 25% of the church is related to you, then it is just as, if not more than, likely that a family lowering its guard around one another could be the cause of the spread. I think studies have stated that most transmission is occurring in small gatherings at homes. I think that just means you are more likely to get it from a family member you are regularly around than a random co-worker or person in public that you do not get close to for an extended amount of time. It's the same reason most traffic accidents occur at lower speeds close to where you live. We do more driving close to our home and urban and city street speed limits are typically 35 or lower.

I don't think your statements placing blame on the church helps your point. I agree that we should not relax our caution at church too much at this time. Mask, social distance, resist the typical hand shakes and hugging, space out in worship and encourage sick and at-risk to remain distanced. But that should apply in all settings as much as possible. So keep up the practices we have been asked to perform everywhere and be especially careful around those you are closest to.

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I don't think your statements placing blame on the church helps your point. I agree that we should not relax our caution at church too much at this time. Mask, social distance, resist the typical hand shakes and hugging, space out in worship and encourage sick and at-risk to remain distanced. But that should apply in all settings as much as possible. So keep up the practices we have been asked to perform everywhere and be especially careful around those you are closest to.

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My experience at my church is that most members are treating it as an "island" where they don't have to mask up.

Some churches are very strict concerning masks and distancing....some aren't.

lunchbox said:

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Quote:

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I don't think your statements placing blame on the church helps your point. I agree that we should not relax our caution at church too much at this time. Mask, social distance, resist the typical hand shakes and hugging, space out in worship and encourage sick and at-risk to remain distanced. But that should apply in all settings as much as possible. So keep up the practices we have been asked to perform everywhere and be especially careful around those you are closest to.

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My experience at my church is that most members are treating it as an "island" where they don't have to mask up.

Some churches are very strict concerning masks and distancing....some aren't.

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And I would disagree with those people at your church while still not judging them. It is their right to take whatever risk they want. My church has reacted both ways. At some points people have been more compliant and some less compliant. Once half the staff got the virus around the same time and the virus began to resurge, they became more compliant. Even with that we did not have community spread in the membership but only the staff that did not social distance in their staff meetings.

We also have many more choosing to stay home and watch online. I'd much rather be there together while wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing protocols than being isolated at home.

However, my point was that while I agree people at church need to remain vigilant, I believe the OP should consider families not being vigilant as much or more than churches being vigilant since he indicated so many of his family live close enough together to comprise a large portion of the church membership in this case.