With rising COVID case counts, a local COVID positivity rate of more than ten percent, and positive COVID exposures at church, the Session unanimously approved reinstituting Sinking Spring’s face covering protocol at its stated meeting on Monday, meaning that the wearing of a face covering is required for attendance at all in-person activities and worship at Sinking Spring. In-person activities include, but are not limited to, Bible study groups, youth group, Spencer-Miller Arts Array concerts, Committee and Team meetings, etc.

It is out of a deep sense of disappointment and frustration, and an abundance of caution, that the Session approved reinstating the Church’s COVID face covering protocol. In restoring this protocol, the Session was guided by two metrics: 1) The current Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for the wearing of face coverings in congregant settings, and 2) the local positivity rate for Washington County per the Virginia Department of Health.

It is the Session’s hope that the return to wearing face coverings at in-person activities and worship will be short lived. Please know, however, that the Session is monitoring our local COVID situation closely and will be using the local positivity rate for Washington County per the Virginia Department of Health as its primary guide for its consideration of either relaxing the newly reinstituted face covering protocol or the reinstatement of other COVID protocols such as social distancing, capacity limits, temperature checks, and contact tracing.

As it has been expressed many times during the past year-and-a-half, this is a very fluid situation. So, let us be patient with each other and keep our community, our neighbors, and each other in our prayers.