Updated: January 20, 2021 11:00 am PST
As we continue to monitor the situation with the COVID-19 virus, watching for signals from national, state, and local officials and listening carefully to leaders in our neighboring states and dioceses, the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon is committed to do all in our power to slow the progress of the spread of this virus.
This page will be updated frequently with news and resources for the churches of our diocese. Please check back regularly for pastoral instructions from Bishop Michael, information on participating in online worship, and other helpful links from The Episcopal Church and other organizations.
*NEW* COVID-19 Vaccines are being administered in Oregon. The vaccines are safe and will help to bring this pandemic to an end once everyone is vaccinated. It is important to note that if you are vaccinated it is important that you continue to practice safe protocols: wear your mask, wash your hands, stay home, keep your distance from others if you are out, avoid crowds, etc. We have included more information regarding vaccines below. This sheet from the Oregon Health Authority is a very helpful place to begin.
Diocesan staff will continue to work remotely and can be reached during regular business hours through their diocesan email addresses and phone numbers. Click here for staff contact information.
Some churches in the diocese will remain closed for public worship services and meetings until further notice. Many are holding online worship and prayer services. Click here for a list of those services.
Outreach programs and feeding ministries may continue as essential services only if they can be conducted in ways that comply with the safety procedures for proper distancing and sanitizing. Please check with individual churches on the status of their food pantries, community meals, and other programs.
Important Notices:
As vaccines for COVID-19 begin to be administered to the public we have collected information that maybe helpful for you. It is important to note that people remember basic COVID-19 safety measures to stop the spread of disease: wear a mask, social distance, avoid large gatherings and social get- togethers, wash your hands and stay home when you’re sick. This includes those who receive the vaccination. Continue to do your part to keep others safe.
Top message from the Oregon Health Authority regarding the COVID-19 Vaccine:
- Vaccination is the safest, most effective and most reliable way to keep yourself, your family and your community healthy and safe from COVID-19.
- COVID-19 vaccines are 95% effective and have undergone rigorous safety testing.
- Oregon will prioritize people who are most at risk and hardest hit. Front-line health care workers will receive the first vaccinations, with a focus on staff who are at highest risk of exposure to the virus in their work. Residents and staff in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities also will be among the first vaccinated.
- Vaccination gives us hope that the pandemic will end, but in the meantime, we need to continue safety measures to keep the virus from spreading: wear a mask, physically distance from others, wash your hands, avoid gatherings and stay home when you’re sick.
Three Questions from the Q&A Session with Faith Community Leaders
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- Check with your county public health department. Many have "registry" systems where you can input your information to receive an alert when you may be eligible.
- Be sure to keep an eye on the Vaccine Advisory Committee.
- You can provide public comment here.
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Helpful Links:
- Faith Community Leaders Vaccine Q&A with Oregon Health Authority - Video Recording; Powerpoint
- Oregon Health Authority: COVID-19 Vaccine Information for Providers
- COVID-19 Vaccination Communication Toolkit from the CDC
- Oregon-Specific Q&A Regarding the Vaccine
- Oregon Vaccine Advisory Committee Website
- Watch previous meetings of the committee
- Review agendas and meeting informations
This email was originally sent on December 3, 2020 from Maria Waters, OHA Faith Liaison, Faith.Liaison@dhsoha.state.or.us to Faith Leaders across the state of Oregon.
Hello Faith Leaders,
I hope you each had a few moments of peace and joy over the last week. There are lots of updates and changes today. Please take a few moments to review the information below. As always, please reach out if there is anything specific I can do to support your faith community.
New: Faith Community Guidance
The new four-tier framework goes into effect today. There are significant changes including a new faith-specific guidance document as well as changes to how in-home faith gatherings are classified.
Additional clarification will come shortly on how often and when the risk level for a county will change.
The four levels of risk are: Lower Risk, Moderate Risk, High Risk and Extreme Risk. For the first two-week period, 25 Counties are in the extreme risk level, 5 in the high risk level, 2 in the moderate risk level and 4 in the lower risk level. To see which level your county is in, you can find a map here.
For an overview of all sector guidance, click here.
For Faith Community specific guidance, click here.
OHA COVID-19 webpage to view all documents, click here.
Note- I've received lots of questions about the capacity definition. I am awaiting clarification on this issue, however the "maximum occupancy permitted by law" refers to the fire marshal occupancy certificate. The best method to calculate capacity is calculate the percentage based on the level of risk your county is in. For example, calculate 25% of the fire marshal limits, with a maximum limit of 100 people indoors for extreme risk counties.
In-Home Gatherings
Under the new framework, faith based in-home gatherings should utilize the "Gatherings" sector guidance. This means that for counties in the extreme or high risk levels, in-home faith gatherings cannot exceed more than 6 people.
For in-home gatherings guidance, click here.
Face Coverings Guidance
Masks, face coverings or face shields are required to be worn by all individuals at all times unless the individual:
- Is at their own residence.
- Is in their own personal vehicle, except when going through a drive-thru or if interacting with an individual outside the vehicle, such as at a gas station.
- Is under five (5) years of age.
- Is eating or drinking.
- Is engaged in an activity that makes wearing a mask, face covering or face shield not feasible, such as when taking a shower.
- Is sleeping.
- Is in a private, individual workspace.
- Must remove the mask, face coverings or face shield briefly because the individual’s identity needs to be confirmed by visual comparison, such as at a bank or if interacting with law enforcement. If possible, individuals should limit speaking while the mask, face covering or face shield is off as speaking generates aerosols and droplets that can contain viruses.
Individuals who have a medical condition that makes it hard to breathe or a disability that prevents the individual from wearing a mask, face covering or face shield can request an accommodation from a business, person responsible for an indoor or outdoor space open to the public, public or private workplace, private career school or public or private university to enable full and equal access to services, transportation and facilities open to the public.
This means that face coverings are required while speaking or performing at a faith gathering. There are no exceptions regardless of distance between the audience and the speaker. Additionally, plexiglass shields are not approved as a substitute for a face covering.
For the Face Coverings guidance, click here.
Vaccines
There is a new website that just launched for information relating to COVID-19 vaccinations in Oregon. On the website, you can read about Oregon's draft vaccination distribution plan, updates on vaccine availability, and information about vaccine safety and effectiveness.
You can find the vaccination website here.
Community Information Exchange
Oregon community information exchanges (CIEs) are developing across the state, sponsored by Medicaid coordinated care organizations (CCOs), health plans and other organizations. CIE can be used by interested community-based organizations (CBOs), local public health authorities (LPHAs), and Tribes to coordinate wraparound and social services support for COVID-19 isolation and quarantine.
You can find an informational flyer here.
We also plan to hold an informational webinar where community stakeholders interested in CIE can learn more, and to gather feedback in the future. We’ll share more information about these events in upcoming newsletters and on our OHA CIE website.
Resources
Oregon Department of Human Services Resources
Over the next few days, additional clarification will come available on the new guidance. I have received a number of questions that have been submitted to the Governor's Office for clarification. As soon as I have answers, I will send them out.
In Partnership,
Maria Waters
OHA Faith Liaison
Faith.Liaison@dhsoha.state.or.us
Everyone has a right to know about and use Oregon Health Authority (OHA) programs and services. OHA provides free help. Some examples of the free help OHA can provide are:
- Sign language and spoken language interpreters
- Closed captioning in English and Spanish
- Written materials in other languages
- Braille
- Large print
- Audio and other formats
If you need help or have questions, please contact Faith.Liaison@dhsoha.state.or.us.
Authority: Executive Order No. 20-66, ORS 433.441, ORS 433.443, ORS 431A.010
Applicability: This guidance applies statewide to faith institutions, funeral homes, mortuaries and cemeteries.
Enforcement: To the extent this guidance requires compliance with certain provisions, it is enforceable as specified in Executive Order No. 20-66, paragraph 10.
Operators of faith institutions, funeral homes, mortuaries and cemeteries are required to:
General:
- Comply with the Statewide Mask, Face Covering, Face Shield Guidance.
- Comply with the Eating and Drinking Establishments Guidance for the designated risk level of the county in which the faith institution, funeral home, mortuary and cemetery is located, if applicable.
- For extreme risk counties prohibit on-site consumption of food or drinks unless integral to a religious service.
Distance and Occupancy:
- Limit maximum capacity based on the designated risk level of the county in which faith institution, funeral home, mortuary or cemetery is located.
- Maintain physical distance of at least six (6) feet between people, except that members of the same household can be within six (6) feet of each other.
- Determine seating and or configuration to comply with all physical distancing requirements.
- Assign a physical distancing monitor to ensure compliance with all distancing requirements, including at entrances, exits, restrooms and any other area where people may meet or crowd.
- Do not combine households or allow shared seating for individuals not in the same households.
- Remove or restrict seating or standing areas to facilitate the requirement of at least six (6) feet of physical distance between households.
- Prohibit people in different households from meeting/crowding in any area of the facility, both indoor and outdoor, including in parking lots.
Cleaning and Disinfection:
- Thoroughly clean all areas of gathering space prior to reopening after any extended closure.
- Thoroughly clean the gathering space between events according to the cleaning anddisinfection requirements.
- Use disinfectants that are included on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved list for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- Assign a sanitation attendant or attendants to frequently clean and disinfect work areas, high-traffic areas, and commonly touched surfaces in areas accessed by workers and attendees/participants.
- Assign a sanitation attendant or attendants to clean restrooms hourly during the event, and ensure adequate sanitary supplies (e.g., soap, toilet paper, 60-95% alcohol-content hand sanitizer) during all events.
Operators of faith institutions, funeral homes, mortuaries and cemeteries should, but are not required to:
- Consider live-streaming the performance to attendees to limit the size of in-person gatherings.
- When singing or playing instruments, consider moving the performance outdoors.
- When playing brass and wind instruments, consider moving the performance outdoors and consider covering the instruments to keep droplets from spreading when using the instrument.
- Consider using amplifiers or other sound enhancing equipment to reduce the need to yell or increase the volume of the performers’ voices.
- Consider increasing physical distancing greater than six (6) feet apart between individuals outdoors.
Additional Resources:
Document accessibility: For individuals with disabilities or individuals who speak a language other than English, OHA can provide information in alternate formats such as translations, large print, or braille. Contact the Health Information Center at 1-971-673-2411, 711 TTY or COVID19.LanguageAccess@dhsoha.state.or.us
As the State of Oregon wrestles with understanding what is necessary to address our communities’ safety, their guidelines for reopening have changed. All congregations that have or plan to open need to be compliant with state and relevant county guidelines.
Below are the most recent guidelines for event operators and gatherings, both of which are applicable for churches. These guidelines are applicable for counties in Phase 1 and Phase 2. Specific questions regarding state regulations and local guidelines should be addressed with your county’s Public Health office.
If you have already submitted a plan, please adjust your practices to meet these new standards. If you have not yet submitted a plan, please address these required components in your plan to reengage your building.
Some of the highlighted changes include requirements that churches:
- Post signs throughout facility with symptoms and encouraging people to go home if sick
- Post signs throughout facility with info on who to contact if someone gets sick
- Provide hand sanitizer throughout
- Require reservations or advanced tickets
- Determine maximum occupancy of each indoor and outdoor area using 35 square feet per person
- Assign physical distancing monitor
- Use specific EPA approved disinfectants
- Assign sanitation attendant
- First notify any other employees or volunteers who might potentially have had exposure. You should tell them only that someone was diagnosed with the illness, but should not identify which person is sick, even if they ask so they can gauge their own risk. Medical information, such as diagnosis, must be kept confidential. It’s okay if they figure it out on their own, but make sure you’re not the one to reveal the information.
Exposed employees or volunteers probably don’t need to quarantine unless they had close contact for a prolonged period of time (this isn’t precisely defined, but 15 minutes at less than 6 feet apart would qualify, even with masks). The CDC has the latest information on its website.
- Next, you should follow CDC and local health department guidance on cleaning and quarantining. Areas of the worksite where the infected person worked or visited should be closed for 24 hours, or as long as possible, then thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
The sick person should talk to their healthcare provider to determine when to return. For those who have a presumptive case of COVID-19 (meaning they didn’t get a test), their provider will probably let them return when at least 24 hours have passed since recovery, as defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications AND improvement in respiratory symptoms AND at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
We are living in extremely difficult and challenging times but times also that call us to a deeper sense of God’s presence and abiding love. The document that follows outlines our thinking at this time as we consider how to reengage with our buildings and continue the ministry of Jesus to the world. These guidelines are to be considered diocesan norms for this time until further notice, superseding any legal rulings on church openings. At the end of the diocesan guidelines you will also find information on the states phased reopening plan for Oregon. This is provided in order to give you the context for our diocesan guidelines.
- Diocesan Guidelines for Reengaging our Church Buildings
- Going out? Stay apart. (Poster from Oregon Health Authority)
- Do you have these symptoms? (Poster from Oregon Health Authority)
- Guías Diocesanas para los edificios de nuestra Iglesia
- ¿Sale? Mantenga la distancia. (Cartel de la Autoridad de Salud de Oregon)
- ¿Tiene estos síntomas? (Cartel de la Autoridad de Salud de Oregon)
Resources
- Sector Risk Level Guidance
- CDC Interim Guidance for Communities of Faith (Updated Oct. 29, 2020)
- Episcopal Diocese of Oregon Guidelines for Reengaging Our Church Buildings in English and en Español
- Guidance for Venue and Event Operators (Oregon Health Authority)
- Guidance for Gatherings (Oregon Health Authority)
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Interim Guidance for Communities of Faith: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/faith-based.html
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Large Meeting Guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/large-events/mass-gatherings-ready-for-covid-19.html
- Workplace Guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html
The Episcopal Church COVID-19 page
The Episcopal Church Foundation COVID-19 Resource page
Episcopal Relief & Development
- Faith-based response to pandemics: https://www.episcopalrelief.org/what-we-do/us-disaster-program/faith-based-response-to-epidemics/
- Keeping your community connected: https://www.episcopalrelief.org/what-we-do/us-disaster-program/remoteministry/
Request from the Oregon Governor's Office
The Governor’s office has teamed with the Office of Emergency Management to survey and assess availability of facilities such as RV/Trailer Dump Sites, restrooms, showering facilities, hand-washing stations, laundry facilities, etc. throughout the state. With the closure of restaurants, parks and recreation areas, accessibility is limited. As a result they are seeking out the assistance of Faith Communities, Parks and Recreation districts, cities, counties and other networks to help get this survey out as well as provide information if there is an availability of any of the above mentioned facilities. Your support is invaluable and greatly appreciated. Click here to complete the survey.
OneLicense music and online streaming licenses
Information sheet on copyright issues pertaining to music in online worship videos
Episcopal Communicators group on Facebook
COVID-19: How to include marginalized and vulnerable people in risk communication and community engagement: a booklet from an international collaboration of humanitarian aid workers. Click here for more.
Online Worship Services through the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon
Many churches are offering worship on Facebook and YouTube. Click here to see a list of churches, times, and links.
We will be updating this section with links to diocesan churches that are offering online services as well. Click here to complete a short form with information on your church's online worship services.
The Episcopal Church
This page on The Episcopal Church website provides links to a variety of worship and formation resources.
Information from the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon
Church Finance Resources letter from Bishop Michael and Rick Grimshaw, Treasurer
Congregational Online Giving Form from the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon. This can be used to make a credit/debit card donation to any church in the diocese, which will be processed and distributed by the diocesan Finance Team.
Other Online Giving options churches can set up:
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- PayPal Giving Fund
- Square
- GoFundMe Charity
- Vanco
- Vanco is waiving the monthly fee for text message eGiving through May, so you can use this simple tool to accept additional donations. Sign up here for your free toll-free text number, select “Text Transactions: And then share this member-facing video on instructions on how to give on GivePlus Text. If your church already uses GivePlus Text, your monthly fees will be waived through May.
Emergency Funding: In response to this crisis throughout Oregon, the Episcopal Bishop of Oregon Foundation will deploy rapid funding resources to churches, diocesan institutions and affiliated organizations. Click here for more information.
Government Information
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Memo detailing information for churches on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) poster for workplaces (click here to download)
Instructions for employers on posting the FFCRA poster (click here to download)
The CARES Act
Information on the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program
- Application information for parish churches
- Application information for mission churches
- Updates from The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations
- U.S. Small Business Association has produced an FAQ for Faith-Based Organizations regarding the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program
- Donor incentives included in The CARES Act: memo from Episcopal Church Foundation
- April 19, 2020 Paycheck Protection Program update
Addressing Isolation and Quarantine Webinar: this was offered by Episcopal Relief & Development and the recording is now available. Click here to listen or read a summary.
Pastors and Disasters: a toolkit from Episcopal Relief & Development. Click here for more.
Ministering to Children, Youth, Teens, and Adults after a Disaster: a number of age-appropriate curricula from Episcopal Relief & Development. Click here for more.
Concerns for Clergy - Pastoral Care in a Time of Pandemic: a list of practical things to keep in mind. Click here for more.
COVID-19: How to include marginalized and vulnerable people in risk communication and community engagement: a booklet from an international collaboration of humanitarian aid workers. Click here for more.
The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina has a wonderful resource section with many considerations and helpful links. Visit their Pastoral Care in a Time of Coronavirus page.
Things to Consider When Holding a Funeral Over Zoom: written by a priest following her own mother's death during this time of physical distancing, this provides helpful insights on emotional and practical choices to be made regarding funeral arrangements. Click here to read the paper.
Distance Funerals, Complicated Grief: a YouTube video from the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. Click here for the video.
Virtual grieving: Is there closure if there is no goodbye? an op-ed article from a physician and expert in end-of-life care. Click here to read the article.
Bishop Michael's Letters to the Diocese
As we continue to learn about COVID-19 and its impact on our churches and communities, Bishop Michael will continue offering advice, encouragement, and support for the people of Oregon.