As news of the first case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) to hit Williamson County and concerns are rising, I wanted to let you know some important info about it and how Redemption City Church is responding. Hopefully, this will help you “germaphobes” out there like me process all of this in the right way.
What We Know About Coronavirus – The coronavirus is a novel respiratory disease that has been spreading globally since late 2019. The coronavirus’s health risk to date appears to be comparable to that of influenza, which many of us have experienced. Here are a few key data points:
- While the flu has killed close the 20,000 people in America this year, the coronavirus has killed around 14 (and a little over 3,000 people worldwide).
- Of those that were killed by the coronavirus, it seems that usually they had significant pre-existing health conditions, smokers, or older folks.
- Children do not appear to be more susceptible to coronavirus than adults. In fact, no deaths have been reported among the young.
- Based on existing cases, it’s estimated that about 80 percent of people who are affected experience mild symptoms.
- While some estimated that the coronavirus would have a 2-3% death rate, it already appears that these were wrong. Thankfully, the latest numbers put it basically at the same place as the flu’s .1%.
What We All Can Do – Officials recommend that we do what we should always do during sick season and practice good hygiene basics like:
- Wash your hands frequently, and for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water to protect yourself and others from germs.
- Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
- Keep your hands away from your face, because germs routinely spread when a person touches something contaminated with germs, and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth. This is the reason why the CDC recommend that healthy people not wear masks.
- If you feel sick, stay home and contact your doctor.
What Redemption City Church Is Doing – Redemption City Church will continue to follow the health protocols that we have in place. I hate sickness and so does my family (ask anyone who knows us!). That’s why we made sure from day one that we had great health protocols in place. As you would expect, this list includes not allowing kids in Kids City who have been sick or showed signs of sickness in the last 24 hours. Also, every classroom has been “deep cleaned” this week and will be every week moving forward by the Kids City Team! The rest of the church is cleaned weekly as well. In light of the current concerns, a greater level of cleaning has taken place and will continue to be practiced for the foreseeable future.
Our leadership team obviously will continue to carefully monitor the situation and considering all recommendations from government officials. We still plan to gather together for our regular gatherings this weekend at 9 & 10:30am. As always, we are committed to doing whatever we can to provide a safe environment to welcome you, your family, and your friends.
If you’ve lived very long, you know that there have been versions of these kinds of sicknesses before. Whether it’s the SARS of the 2000s, the coronavirus of today, or whatever is coming next year, let’s pray this problem, trust our God, and take the common sense steps recommended. Hope to see you Sunday!