State of California Says Places of Worship Can Open, but Bay Area Leaders are Taking Cautious Approach

Despite recently released statewide guidelines allowing places of worship to restart in-person services, some Bay Area church leaders say they won’t be rushing to reopen doors any time soon.

Faith leaders say they are still determining what the rules are at the local level and that it will take some time to implement items outlined in the state guidance. They remain aware of the risks posed by the novel coronavirus, especially to vulnerable congregants, they say.

Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, who leads the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, said he would carry on with virtual worship services for the foreseeable future — and called on others in the black community to do the same.

“We are enlightened enough to follow science, and we care about each other,” Brown said. “So we will not be involved in any political ploy that would cause more black people to be lost disproportionately to this unfortunate virus.”

Brown, who is the local chapter leader of the NAACP, joined other pastors and members of the San Francisco Interfaith Council Monday on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco to urge churches in the black community and across the region to avoid putting their congregations at risk, who, due to systemic racism and social inequities, are often more vulnerable to getting sicker and dying from complications linked to COVID-19.

Brown’s message stands in contrast to some California religious leaders, who voiced their opposition to state and local rules that prevent in-person worship services. Last week, more than 1,200 California pastors — primarily from evangelical congregations — signed a declaration saying they would restart worship on May 31 in defiance of existing orders. A church in San Diego is suing Gov. Gavin Newsom for his ban on in-person religious gatherings. The group lost in the lower courts and have asked the Supreme Court to consider the case. Last Friday, President Trump bolstered those clamoring to reopen by calling churches “essential” and telling governors to let them resume services.

But in the Bay Area, leaders seem to be taking a more cautious approach. Pastor Gerald Agee from the Friendship Christian Church in West Oakland said he’s on the same page as those who want to wait. He said the push to reopen as soon as possible seems to be more about politics rather than safety.

“I am offended by that,” said Agee.” I have the responsibility to look out for [the] people that I've been entrusted with and we'll ... yield to caution and we’ll yield to the scientific and medical professionals. And we will yield to the law from the state and local government.”

Agee said the board of directors of his church estimate reopening will likely not happen until mid-July.

Available data shows that African-Americans have experienced the highest rates of severe complications and death from the novel coronavirus. On average, the rate of black fatalities from the virus is more than twice that of whites.

Even before the pandemic, black Americans have had higher rates of multiple chronic illnesses, and a lower life expectancy than white Americans, as pointed out by Dr. Sabrina Strings in an op-ed published in the New York Times Monday.

“We have had preexisting conditions from not having access to treatment for diabetes, not having access to nutritious meals because of food deserts — these are the kind of disparities that lead to death before the deadline,” Brown said.

Rabbi Mychal Copeland with San Francisco’s Sha'ar Zahav synagogue is also concerned about the health of congregants. Copeland said her synagogue serves the LGBT community and experienced firsthand the devastating impacts of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Today, Copeland said many congregants are immunocompromised due to HIV or other illnesses — and many are elderly.

“Just because we are religious communities, we aren't immune,” Copeland said. “What a catastrophe it would be if any of our communities experienced an outbreak. In ours, an outbreak would be devastating.”

Copeland said the only path forward is to move toward re-opening slowly.

Places of worship may not have a choice about a more gradual re-opening. The guidelines issued by the California Department of Public Health gave individual counties the authority to decide whether religious gatherings in their jurisdictions can resume. Places of worship that get the go-ahead must limit attendance to 25% capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees — whichever is lower — for at least the first 21 days after reopening.

Bishop Bob Jackson, with the ACTS Full Gospel Church, said he has mixed emotions around what he's hearing from federal, state and county officials, as well as his denomination's leaders.

"I had mixed emotions concerning the dictates that we were getting from the president, from the governor, from the county, and also from my presiding bishop that's over our denomination," Jackson said. "And so all four of them are saying different things, so it's kind of hard to comply with one and not be in trouble with the other one."

Jackson was among a group of church leaders who were demanding to be allowed to have in-person services on May 31, which is Pentecost, an important holiday some consider to be the birth of the Christian church. But Jackson said the leader of his denomination, the Church of God in Christ, said all churches within the group should remain closed through the end of June. Jackson said he will abide by that.

According to state rules, places of worship must come up with COVID-19 prevention plans, including screening workers and volunteers, and cleaning and disinfecting pews and lobbies. Religious leaders and volunteers are urged to wear gloves and to continue enforcing social distancing.

Hatem Bazian, chair of the nonprofit Northern California Islamic Council, a group representing 92 mosques in 10 Bay Area counties, said members of the organization want to take a cautious approach toward re-opening their doors for prayers and worshipers. Bazian said his organization’s members are worried about lacking the resources to implement all of the guidelines.

“Many of the mosques don’t have the supplies that are needed — from masks to disinfectants, to also dealing with the need to sanitize the areas after each of the prayers. Also training of the staff, we don’t have the thermometers,” he said.

His group is asking local and state officials to commit to providing resources such as equipment.

When places of worship do reopen, faith leaders say services will look very different. The current state guidance advises against singing, sharing booklets or bringing prayer rugs from home. Additionally, officials said places of worship shouldn’t serve food and that congregants should refrain from touching while greeting each other or during worship service.

“As far as coming together to worship again, that paradigm will never be the same,” said Jackson.