COVID-19 Update: Temporarily Suspending Limited Gathering Worship Services
This morning, based upon our communities’ current metrics surrounding COVID-19, we made the decision to suspend in-person limited gathering worship services through the end of July.
As you have likely noted in the news, there has been a surge of COVID-19 positive cases in Florida. The surge is being felt strongly in Orange and Seminole counties. When Governor DeSantis outlined the beginning of phased reopening plans for May, he identified two critical metrics as key indicators as to whether or not the COVID-19 outbreak was manageable—percentage of positive cases (it should be less than 10%) and hospital capacity.
When we began reopening with our in-person limited gathering worship services in June, the percentage of positive cases was around 3 percent and hospitals had high capacity. Currently, the percentage of positive cases in Orange and Seminole counties is about 13 percent, which is above the 10 percent target identified by the governor. That reality will have a direct impact on hospitals and we are already seeing that they are nearing capacity. These are concerning realities, and the White House Coronavirus Task Force noted in their latest briefing that Orlando is on their list of cities about which they are most concerned.
While our staff team and all who participated in the in-person services at Summit this month did a great job of maintaining a responsible and safe environment, I believe that the current change of conditions in our communities leads to the reasonable decision to temporarily pause in-person worship services. We will continue to evaluate available metrics on a weekly basis, but it is likely that we will not again gather in person until the end of July, early August, or later as it will take time to see if the latest mitigation efforts are having a positive effect on managing the outbreak.
My encouragement to all of you is to continue to fully participate in taking responsible steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. I know we are all hoping that we will enter the school year and fall season with some measure of normalcy, and our actions now have a direct impact on those good possibilities in the months ahead. As much as we are all battling the “I am over it” feelings about COVID-19, it is important that we do our part and that we respond with abounding grace and love to those around us.
For now, the great news is that our online services are still rockin' along! Most of you have already chosen to use the online worship service as your primary means of engagement in services, and we look forward to continuing to do our best to worship, connect, and live out our vision online, in our homes, and with those close to us. I also invite you to join us in praying for our communities as we trust that God is in control.
John Parker is the lead pastor at Summit Church. He enjoys woodworking and boats and dreams of building his own boat in the coming years.