COVID is not going away, yet we now have effective vaccines and effectual therapies to reduce the incidences of infections and deaths, infectious disease specialist Dr. Tim Babinchak told SEPA leaders in a Zoom conference May 11.

Dr. Babinchak, a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Phoenixville, and retired head of infectious diseases at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, said that there are no zero-risk guarantees and church leaders will have to decide what risks they and their attendees are willing to take in returning to in-person worship.

Rather than trying to eliminate every possible risk, Dr. Babinchak suggested that we are in a new normal where care for vulnerable people and making informed, reasonable choices should be emphasized.

Dr. Babinchak proposed a four-step process for making decisions based on the makeup of a congregation:

Outdoors gatherings are always safer than indoors. (Very few cases of outdoor transmission have been documented.) The more air exchange you have indoors, the better.

People should not attend church if they are sick (regardless of whether they think they have COVID).

Emphasize hand-washing. Open restrooms or provide other ways for people to wash hands at church.

Wearing masks and maintaining distance will always lower risk. Masks protect others, not the wearer. You will not always know if you have vulnerable or ill people in your church.

Dr. Babinchak suggested that singing softly and soft liturgical responses with masks is possible indoors and outdoors. Distancing reduces risk. Remember, if someone is unvaccinated or ill, singing is a high-risk activity for those around them.

For vaccinated persons, there should be no issue with sharing communion as usual, Dr. Babinchak said. Provide other options for unvaccinated or vulnerable persons.

Coffee hours and social times are best done outdoors and kept short.

It is safe to return hymnals to the pews. As long as people wash hands and stay home if they are sick, there should be no problem. If services are back-to-back, materials should be cleaned in between.

There is little risk of transmission when people move in the sanctuary; for example, to read at the lectern or participate in a children’s sermon. Close grouping of people has a higher risk.

This educational presentation contains the professional opinions of the presenter for use by church leaders in decision-making, and does not constitute advice or recommendations from the synod.

Thank you to Rob Unger and Catherine Fink for contributing to this summary.