On an October 1st call with faith leaders, Lt. Gov. Barnes and Department of Health Services (DHS) Staff shared the news that Wisconsin is currently in a crisis situation with respect to COVID transmission. We share a summary of key points from the call for leaders who were unable to join:
- Mask up EVERY time you leave the house.
- Avoid gatherings of people you don’t live with for the time being.
- We are being asked to stay persistent on not gathering in person, for the good of all – even if it causes organizational struggles.
- Multiple health systems are nearing capacity. Today’s DHS report (10/1) will show over 2800 new COVID cases.
- DHS has had to add a new category for “very high” COVID activity to its dashboard and immediately moved 45 counties to that activity level.
- Because we are in a surge situation you can’t put the entire spread on one segment of the community (it’s not a simple cluster in churches, or restaurants, or schools, for example). Any place where people are in close proximity there’s a high risk of transmission.
- This isn’t just about what we do for church activity but encouraging people to change patterns in other parts of their day to day life too. We need to immediately make changes to our behavior.
- Any further action regarding a statewide Safer at Home order is in the hands of the legislature. While the Governor’s office is limited in its authority by last May’s WI Supreme Court decision, local health officials do have mitigation strategies available to them. We can feel free to use our voices to advocate for what is needed to keep our communities safe and healthy.
We have continued to encourage the church to undertake ministry in the most physically distanced ways feasible. Wisconsin is an epicenter of COVID spread. Please take this as a call to adjust your daily patterns and to rethink any plans to gather indoors. – WCC Staff
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