More than a month into virtual services, ministers are finding ways to engage with their congregants, even if services are watched in living rooms amid real-life distractions.

Online worship services can provide a sense and value of authenticity, said Alan Sherouse, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“It’s a powerful reminder about the way the holy and sacred meet the everyday or ordinary,” he said. “Those little interruptions have been a reminder that God meets us right in the midst of all these hard circumstances.”

Increased virtual ministry efforts allow congregants who are unable to attend in-person services due to work schedules, health issues and now social distancing an opportunity to participate in a worship service.

“We’ve been encouraged to see that the people we have been wondering about are really loving to be connected to the church through online worship instead of in a sanctuary,” Sherouse said.

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Mr. Bello’s cataclysmic spiral from avid skier, cyclist and runner to grievously ill patient — and the heartbreaking and triumphant twists in doctors’ relentless efforts to save him — underscores the agonizing challenges confronting even highly trained physicians and well-equipped hospitals battling a ferociously capricious virus.

Hospitals have never before had, simultaneously, so many patients so sick that their lungs have basically stopped functioning. And while doctors are experienced at treating similar respiratory failure, the path of patients with Covid-19 can be maddeningly unpredictable.

“It’s like they fall off a cliff,” said Dr. Peggy Lai, a critical care doctor at Mass General. “You see young patients getting sicker and sicker by the day despite everything that you know is good standard of care.”

Without proven therapies to extinguish the infection, doctors ride roller-coasters of trial and error. They weigh risks of uncertain treatments and painstakingly adjust machines in hopes of shoring up patients’ lungs enough that their bodies clear the inflammation and heal.

“The tricky part with this disease,” Dr. Lai said, “is that we have nothing to follow, to know what predicts how sick someone will be and what predicts them getting better.”

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A man went from athletic and healthy to gravely ill. The twists in doctors’ efforts to save him highlight the agonizing mysteries of the coronavirus.https://t.co/TgPmXDhBaa

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 26, 2020

Gov. Henry McMaster plans to issue a new state of emergency order on Monday, saying the widespread threat of the coronavirus remains too high for such a restriction to be lifted.

“We’re not out of this yet. We went into this in a smart way with targeted hotspots, so we do not have the burden that some other states have, but we’re still facing a very serious disease and contagion,” McMaster told reporters Sunday in Greenville.

State law only allows the mandate to be in effect for 15 days. The work-or-stay home order will remain in place, but also could be lifted prior to that deadline.

“All of the policies that have been adopted have been to enforce and encourage social distancing,” McMaster said. “If we’re smart, we can come out of it quickly, but we must do so safely.”

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SC leaps up to 237 new cases today. We can’t have nice things (like pedicures!) anytime soon if you won’t #stayhomeSC. Please #WearAMask too. Let’s all pull together so we can get back to a #new normal sooner. My toes will thank you. https://t.co/Ckza7um36j

— Marie-Louise Ramsdal (@mlramsdale_law) April 26, 2020

As best the agency’s models can tell, the peak number of daily deaths was likely observed nearly two weeks ago on April 9, when 16 people in South Carolina died from COVID-19.

Peak “hospital resource use” was reported on April 10 when 270 hospital beds were being utilized across the state by coronavirus patients.

The agency anticipates a total of 261 people will die from the disease in the state by early August. To date, DHEC has reported 150 deaths.

The projections can change quickly. Only one week ago, DHEC’s models showed more than 600 South Carolinians would likely die from coronavirus this spring and summer, and that the disease would peak in late April and early May.

The new projections offer hope that social distancing measures observed by millions of people across the state have worked to keep the disease contained.

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South Carolina’s health department predicts weekly coronavirus cases will continue to drop in late April and early May.

This suggests the virus’ spread may have turned a corner in S.C. or that the disease curve may be flattening. https://t.co/DqXEEBSclX

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 24, 2020

As coronavirus cases have risen across Africa by almost a third in the past week, a leading charity has called for the urgent cancelling of debt repayments from the poorest countries.

Christian Aid said that repayments should be cancelled this year to help countries spend money on saving lives instead.

The charity said that there are now over 16,000 Coronavirus cases in Africa, an increase of 27 per cent over the previous week, with the number of deaths rising by 43 per cent to over 740.

However, they point out that with extremely low testing carried out across Africa so far, the true figure is feared to be even higher, with some warning the continent could see tens of thousands of cases in coming weeks.

Christian Aid added that many African countries lack the specialist equipment or staff to cope with a pandemic. They have published research that shows that in a country like Malawi, there are only seven ventilators for 18 million people.

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For the first time, one of the many COVID-19 vaccines in development has protected an animal, rhesus macaques, from infection by the new coronavirus, scientists report. The vaccine, an old-fashioned formulation consisting of a chemically inactivated version of the virus, produced no obvious side effects in the monkeys, and human trials began on 16 April.

Researchers from Sinovac Biotech, a privately held Beijing-based company, gave two different doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to a total of eight rhesus macaque monkeys. Three weeks later, the group introduced SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, into the monkeys’ lungs through tubes down their tracheas, and none developed a full-blown infection.

The monkeys given the highest dose of vaccine had the best response: Seven days after the animals received the virus, researchers could not detect it in the pharynx or lungs of any of them. Some of the lower dosed animals had a “viral blip” but also appeared to have controlled the infection, the Sinovac team reports in a paper published on 19 April on the preprint server bioRxiv. In contrast, four control animals developed high levels of viral RNA in several body parts and severe pneumonia. The results “give us a lot of confidence” that the vaccine will work in humans, says Meng Weining, Sinovac’s senior director for overseas regulatory affairs.

“I like it,” says Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who has co-authored a status report about the many different COVID-19 vaccines in development. “This is old school but it might work. What I like most is that many vaccine producers, also in lower–middle-income countries, could make such a vaccine.”

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For the first time, one of the many #COVID19 vaccines in development has protected an animal, rhesus macaques, from infection by the new coronavirus, scientists report. https://t.co/AzFfTHLfWt @pulitzercenter

— News from Science (@NewsfromScience) April 23, 2020

It’s been a busy few weeks in Hereford Diocese, while local people are doing their part to support the current pandemic by staying home, the team at the Diocese working in partnership with Herefordshire County Council and Wye Valley NHS Trust have developed and launched a brand new service, helping people in the community to return home safely following a hospital stay.

“The support service is a brand new partnership and the church is ideally placed to help those trying to put their lives back together” explains, Richard Jones, lead co-ordinator at Hereford Diocese.

The Home Safe from Hospital team forms the last piece of the jigsaw when it comes to getting people who have recovered from or who have been in hospital for a stay, to be discharged from hospital, back home and settled safely.

“For many older people it’s difficult right now, much of the usual care support systems are not on hand for older people and their friends and family are unable to visit in the way they usually would so that’s where we come in. The local hospitals needs to ensure it has beds available for patients with Covid-19” says Richard.

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After nearly two months of combating the spread of coronavirus, South Carolina has plateaued and should see the number of cases begin to drop off — but only if South Carolinians continue to keep their distance from one another.

That was the message Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina’s state epidemiologist, gave to a meeting of the Midlands Coronavirus Task Force on Thursday.

“We are at the plateau, but we are not on a downward trend, and we want to see a downward trend,” Bell said. As the state’s economy now begins to reopen, “I cannot emphasize enough that we have to maintain social distancing.”

That’s particularly important in the Midlands, where Richland County has been hit with the largest number of cases in the state, especially in the African-American community. Bell said Richland ranks fifth statewide in the per capita rate of cases, at 174 per 100,000 residents. As of Tuesday, 15 people have died of COVID-19 in Richland County, also the highest in the state.

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Keep your distance as SC begins to reopen, or COVID-19 cases could grow. https://t.co/lZbTs1v7OE

— The State Newspaper (@thestate) April 23, 2020

In consultation with Bishop Lawrence and the Wardens, we agreed to delay the announcement while so much was unknown. Although our current situation still has many question marks, the initial shock of COVID-19 has past, and it remains uncertain when we shall re-gather. Again, in consultation with wise counsel, I have decided to invite you into
the midst of this journey we are on as a family. We would appreciate your love and prayers as we walk into a new season with plenty of unknowns.

If you have limited experience with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) as I did, you should know that Parkinson’s is a neuron-condition which affects the brains dopamine-producing cells. Thislack of dopamine causes a myriad of fairly unpredictable symptoms in the bodies of those afflicted. PD is a “snowflake disease” with no set pattern of symptoms and no known cause or cure. Statistically, I am slightly young to have PD with the average age of onset being 55.Because of the advances in treatment, PD does not generally shorten one’s lifespan.

My prognosis in the near term (10 years+) is good. I have been on a medicine and exercise regimen since January that has produced some very good results….

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The Rector of Saint Helena’s, Beaufort, writes the parish he serves about his medical situation https://t.co/GBYCr513hf #parishministry #family #marriage #children #health #southcarolina #anglican pic.twitter.com/sbyZyDT4Ka

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 23, 2020

A PCC treasurer has been told by Ecclesiastical Insurance that its policies do not cover the coronavirus pandemic.

Mary Woolley, a parochial church councillor for the 13th-century Grade II* listed St Mary the Virgin, Lynton, in Devon, tried to make a claim under the business interruption clause, covering loss of earnings and closure owing to disease. But, when she contacted the insurer, she was turned down.

“They said: ‘No chance on either count. Sorry, but there you go.’ That hit a nerve,” she said. “Ecclesiastical is in a slightly funny position in that it is owned by the Allchurches Trust, which gives money to charity — and we are a charity. It has strong links with the Church of England. Their reaction wasn’t: ‘We can feel your pain.’ It was, rather: ‘We couldn’t possibly help our churches in that way: we wouldn’t be able to afford it.’”

One third of her church’s income is raised through service collections and donations from tourists. “There are two sections in the policy covering lost earnings,” she said. “One was closure by public decree, which seemed to be pretty clear, but the answer was: ‘Ah, yes, but not for disease.’ The other was disease. There is a long and absolutely hilarious list of things for which we would be covered if we closed the church, such as leprosy and smallpox, but, unfortunately for us, Covid-19 wasn’t invented when the list was created.

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It would not be viable for us to cover virus outbreaks, says Ecclesiastical Insurance https://t.co/ztujfXfdRE

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 23, 2020

State health officials have identified 160 new coronavirus cases in South Carolina, bringing the statewide total to 4,761.

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials also announced Tuesday that five additional people have died after contacting COVID-19. In all, 140 South Carolinians have died from the virus.

Three of the patients who died were elderly, and were from Berkeley, Clarendon and Richland counties. The two others — who were from Greenville and Spartanburg counties — were middle-aged.

Richland County saw the largest increase in coronavirus cases with 34. Lexington County posted five new cases.

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Coronavirus spreads to 160 more in South Carolina. Five more dead https://t.co/DE9kypqSpW

— George Harper (@GeorgeH36498765) April 22, 2020

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The world is facing multiple famines of “biblical proportions” in just a matter of months, the UN has said, warning that the coronavirus pandemic will push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation. https://t.co/TBqEwfbqPw

— CNN (@CNN) April 22, 2020

Widespread pulse oximetry screening for Covid pneumonia — whether people check themselves on home devices or go to clinics or doctors’ offices — could provide an early warning system for the kinds of breathing problems associated with Covid pneumonia.

People using the devices at home would want to consult with their doctors to reduce the number of people who come to the E.R. unnecessarily because they misinterpret their device. There also may be some patients who have unrecognized chronic lung problems and have borderline or slightly low oxygen saturations unrelated to Covid-19.

All patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus should have pulse oximetry monitoring for two weeks, the period during which Covid pneumonia typically develops. All persons with cough, fatigue and fevers should also have pulse oximeter monitoring even if they have not had virus testing, or even if their swab test was negative, because those tests are only about 70 percent accurate. A vast majority of Americans who have been exposed to the virus don’t know it.

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This opinion piece recommends two weeks of home fingertip oxygen monitoring for people with Covid, to detect pneumonia signs early: The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients https://t.co/bh7yzJ8jwu

— Sheri Fink (@sherifink) April 21, 2020

Over the past few weeks, we have seen something quite extraordinary. Without too much legal threat, we have voluntarily submitted to severe abstinence, denying ourselves the rights to mix freely, to go to pubs and restaurants, to watch live sport, to shake hands, to travel to work. As we go through this period of collective self-abnegation, the suppression of our personal ambitions and desires, we are learning how to redirect our personal longings for a greater good, to sacrifice what we would normally like to do for the good of the whole.

We are learning that for a society to work, and to stave off the threats that confront it, the prioritisation of individual choice on its own is not enough. A society cannot survive if each one of us pursues our own self-chosen goals independent of everyone else. We have to exercise restraint, the Queen’s “self-discipline and resolve,” to learn the capacity to sacrifice our own desires for the sake of the wider community.

To address the potentially even more serious challenges of climate change, or the elimination of global poverty, for example, will require an even greater and longer exercise in self-restraint. The question is, when this is all over, whether we will go back to what we have been used to in the recent past, or whether we will restore something of an equilibrium between the demands of individual ambition and the common good.

Saint Paul once wrote that the Christian idea of grace, the notion that we are recipients of goodness that we didn’t create, “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” It may sound quaint and Victorian. But unless we can learn to live self-controlled, disciplined lives, a little more like the ones we’re having to lead right now, there will be little future for our planet or the people who live on it. Maybe coronavirus is giving us a crash course in a different moral universe—one that might just be the saving of us.

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Some thoughts on the moral implications of Coronavirus and lockdown.

How coronavirus is giving us a crash course in a different moral universe https://t.co/wK1M8GFzdz via @prospect_uk

— Graham Tomlin (@gtomlin) April 17, 2020

In recent days I have found myself thinking a great deal about Richard Peirson.

In 1665, the year of the Great Plague, Peirson was the priest here at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, the post that I now hold. Faced with the unimaginable horror of the plague, many clergy fled London. Peirson was one of the few who chose to remain. He stayed at his post, faithfully serving his people as best he could, for the whole of that terrible year.

Our burial register for the year 1665 makes for startling reading. Our parish was a densely populated area and the impact of the plague was devastating. In the month of September alone, when the plague was at its height, Peirson buried 636 people — 43 of them on a single day. There are so many burials that he signs his name at the bottom of each page of the register, rather than against individual entries. He buries whole families; he buries his church officials; he buries unknown and unidentified strangers: some entries read simply: “A child from Kingshead Ally” or “A man from new street”. The symptoms of bubonic plague were horrific and the recovery rate was effectively nil.

I can’t help wondering how Peirson kept going during that year. I wonder what he prayed about and how it affected his faith; I wonder what kept him here, quietly and steadfastly ministering to his flock, day after dreadful day, when every human instinct within him must have craved escape. And Peirson was not alone….

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Also on the practical side, coronavirus and social distancing measures have brought about significant restrictions to funeral services which will affect bereaved relatives’ ability to mourn. But many funeral directors are doing everything they can to help.

There are online resources on how to organise funerals during the coronavirus crisis which are meaningful for both adults and children. Guidance on religious funerals in the context of COVID-19 is available from the official sites of the Church of England, the Catholic Church for England and Wales, the Muslim Council of Britain and the Jewish Joint Burial Society.

Ways to bring in others who are not there in person include live streaming or recording facilities and circulating the order of service, music and poems. People who are bereaved over the coming months might want to organise a simple service at this stage and arrange a memorial or celebration service later. It is important to bring people together to remember and celebrate the person who has died, even if that occasion has to be delayed.

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Grief has been turned upside down during #COVID19 – we need to support bereaved relatives to avoid a host of mental health problems down the line. A piece I wrote for @ConversationUK is now online https://t.co/0gQBbggwT2 @capcbristol @BristolUni #pallicovid #comcomcovid

— Lucy Selman (@Lucy_Selman) April 17, 2020

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday reversed restrictions on some businesses he ordered roughly two weeks ago allowing some retail shopping to reopen as state public health officials continue to fight the novel virus that has so far claimed more than 100 lives in the state.

Under the governor’s new order, department stores can reopen, along with other retail businesses deemed “nonessential” such as sporting goods stores, book, music, shoe and craft stores, jewelry stores, floral shops and other luggage and leather goods stores.

Stores, however, still must abide by previous mandates that limit occupancy to five customers per 1,000 square feet, or 20% of posted occupancy limits.

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SC Gov. McMaster allows some stores to reopen 2 weeks after closing due to COVID-19 https://t.co/BbhNQRslWJ #readlocal #sctweets #coronavirus

— Joseph Bustos (@JoeBReporter) April 20, 2020

I’ve been thinking a lot about constancy in recent days. The initial stay-at-home decree from health officials may have felt cozy or even exotic at the outset, especially to Americans accustomed to being on the go. But that sentiment fast morphed into waves of personal anxiety and disequilibrium as huge swaths of the country settled into extended isolation. With daily rhythms for life and work now disrupted, people with serious financial, medical, and relational constrictions are feeling especially exhausted.

I’ve had to face my own disorientation since the cancellation of in-person worship has become more than a momentary phenomenon. I’m lost on Sunday mornings as I try to navigate between online worship, reading the newspaper, texting colleagues, and lounging around within the confines of my home. It’s like having one’s circadian rhythm interrupted, only much more significantly than with a flight across time zones. The clock that regulates my spiritual metabolism has spent 60 nonstop years calibrating itself to weekly worship. I realize that people who don’t worship in a congregation have no idea what I’m talking about. But for me, this arrhythmia is huge.

Constancy isn’t just a virtue in horn playing. Spiritually speaking, it’s that God-inspired equanimity that allows us to find our way through turmoil. If I don’t get my bearings back soon, I may just have to pull out the horn and give myself a lesson.

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In 2006 and 2007, DHEC told lawmakers that lower federal funding was “causing instability in the department’s preparedness efforts.”

In 2008, it cautioned that “sustenance of state emergency preparedness, for pandemics and other disasters, is becoming a critical issue.”

That year and again in 2009, it reported that it had cut staff because the state hadn’t stepped in to fill federal cuts. Funding shortages had “jeopardized preparedness efforts,” it said.

Seven years in a row, it asked the Legislature for money to keep preparing. That money did not come. Year after year, the agency reminded lawmakers that its emergency planning depended on federal money alone.

Without new funding, “the ability to respond to a large-scale infectious disease event would be severely limited,” DHEC wrote in 2012.

But by then, it was facing an even bigger challenge: The money it got from the state for public health work was dwindling, too.

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South Carolina’s public health system has become one of the most depleted in the nation, hampering the state’s capacity to manage the coronavirus outbreak and recovery.https://t.co/cdR9Fz9nXK

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 19, 2020

Early on, the medical team told Jacqui that her husband might be on the ventilator three to five days. But so much about this new virus remained unknown. They consulted with doctors across the country and across the state.

As Wood approached his first week on the ventilator, his medical team wanted to try removing him from it. His X-rays looked better, his oxygen saturation improved.

But his body could not handle breathing on its own.

More time, more loneliness, more fear. Jacqui saw on the news that the average COVID-19 patient was staying on a ventilator closer to eight to 11 days. She figured that if he went more than 11 days, she’d panic more.

On day 10, a Monday, his doctor tried again to wean him.

This time, his lungs responded. He no longer needed the ventilator.

His overnight nurse got him out of bed and into a chair. The nurse took a picture around 4 a.m. and texted it to Jacqui.

The next day, his nurse called Jacqui on FaceTime so she could see her husband. Wood could barely get his hand to his mouth. His throat was too raw to speak. But he could answer yes and no.

He was in there. He would be OK. They would all be OK.

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Bishop Steve Wood was on a ventilator, fighting COVID-19, for 10 days.

And lived to realize it.https://t.co/dPbeT3fUYy

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 19, 2020

Europe’s atomized efforts are a test of how the U.S. will fare as states such as New York and California attempt to follow. President Trump’s administration has encouraged states to reopen in phases after cases begin to fall. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the governors of six nearby states have convened a task force to look at how they will reopen their economies.

Experiences in Europe suggest the reopenings will come in fits and starts, in a strange, postlockdown reality where commercial districts are at best half-open, closed to tour groups and crowds, and bracketed with temperature control checks.

“It’s a hard mental shift,” said Weston Stacey, the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. “With U.S. government officials we’ve talked to, it’s very hard to get them around this thinking of, ‘OK, if we do this, in three weeks, everything will go back to normal.’ Things are not going back to normal.”

Lockdown restrictions helped reduce coronavirus cases and many Italian intensive-care units now have free beds. But the toll on shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment businesses has been extraordinary.

At least a sixth of all Italian restaurant and bars—some 50,000 mostly small businesses—will perish, the country’s bar and diner lobby Fipe projects. Movie theaters have seen almost no revenue in weeks, and anticipate prohibitive crowd restrictions when they reopen: Germany’s top 10 grossing films combined reported just $1,485 in total ticket sales over Easter weekend.

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The open­ings are piece­meal and pro­vi­sional, bring­ing no swift or sub­stan­tial re­lief to a crush­ing re­ces­sion pro­jected to be Eu­rope’s worst since the Great De­pres­sion. https://t.co/xTn78KiZuu

— Jennifer Smith (@jensmithWSJ) April 19, 2020

In Nellie Bly’s chapter, you write of her experience: “the first day, she quickly learned what it was like to be discarded by humanity…” and end with: “Other than some money being thrown at the problem, nothing changed after Bly’s exposé […] one of the most sophisticated and moneyed cities in the world, now aware of such cruelty visited upon its citizens, simply shrugged. As we still do.” This is potent. Instead of shrugging, othering, or hastily diagnosing, in what ways would you like to see the psychiatric community shift in the coming years? What’s your hope?

There’s so much to be excited about from the research side, but as we wait for these interventions (and I remain an optimistic), I hope that psychiatry can really take a hard look at what it can offer to those suffering right at this very moment. Good care comes from truly listening and bonding to patients — the whole “laying of hands” that distinguishes mediocre doctors from great ones — using all the senses with the patient and maintaining an open mind, searching for answers outside of the immediately obvious. I think we’ve turned our back on the more artistic side of clinical care because it’s not lucrative and it’s difficult, because it’s much easier to write a script and call it a day, and the system itself does not reward this kind of interaction. So clearly things need to change within our broken medical system in general. But I think that at the very simplest: psychiatrists need the time and space to spend more time with their patients. And we need to figure out a way to force the system to give them that opportunity.

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“The big difference was that she was misdiagnosed for two years and I was only misdiagnosed for a month. She would, her doctor told me, never fully recover.” Taylor Larsen in conversation with Susannah Catalan on her latest book, “The Great Pretender”: https://t.co/rkvOZXJvkm pic.twitter.com/hZPBfKwaHM

— LA Review of Books (LARB) (@LAReviewofBooks) April 18, 2020

A deacon who left medicine to join the church has gone back to the NHS front line to help fight coronavirus because there was “a need and an ask”.

The Reverend Dr Susan Salt spent more than 30 years as a physician before joining Blackburn Diocese in 2019.

She decided to rejoin Blackpool Victoria Hospital after the government called on retired medics to return.

She said she hoped her experience meant she could support patients “spiritually and mentally as well as physically”.

Dr Salt, who lives in Grimsargh and was working in the Preston and Garstang area, joined a diocese group responding to the pandemic in March, providing medical and bereavement advice and guidance.

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A Lancashire Deacon who left medicine for the church is returning to the NHS front line.
Hear from Reverend Dr Susan Salt on Friday’s breakfast show with @GrahamLiver
https://t.co/SfccThUsTU

— BBC Lancashire (🏠 #StayHomeSaveLives) (@BBCLancashire) April 16, 2020

This is important. There’s no U.S. data yet on what the right side of the curve will look like, but the best available evidence from other countries suggests that the descent will be slow. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said “the worst is over” and “we’ve reached the peak.” He should have followed with “now comes the long wait.”

This shouldn’t be surprising. All our efforts to stay inside and separated –- except for essential activities such as shopping, and except for those who must work –- serve only to slow the spread, not stop it. If you’re hoping for the somewhat symmetrical China curve, forget it. We’re not quarantining people at gunpoint. It’s like someone took the worst-case-scenario curve and pushed it forward in time, without making the area under the curve smaller.

Here’s an analogy. Imagine a plow spreading out a big pile of snow in the street. If it keeps the blade higher, the pile will be taller and won’t spread out very far. If it lowers the blade to a few inches off the ground, the snow will be more manageable but also spread out much farther. The better it does the job – the thinner it spreads the snow — the longer it will take.

If people stick with measures to contain the virus, death rates will eventually trickle down to zero, but only after a lot more people have been infected, assuming they are then immune. If we’re lucky, we’ll slow things down enough to never truly overwhelm the hospitals, and if we’re really lucky we’ll slow things down long enough to benefit from a vaccine or a treatment.

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This Isn’t the Flattened Curve We Were Promised

“It’s like someone took the worst-case-scenario curve and pushed it forward in time, without making the area under the curve smaller.”https://t.co/8ls11iV2i5

— Jack Posobiec, IWO (@JackPosobiec) April 17, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the name of our Risen Lord!

As we continue this journey through the Covid-19 Quarantine, we do so walking with the Risen Christ more fully into Easter, the Great Fifty Days. I pray we can walk in joy and on the right side of Easter. The French writer Louis Evely observed that the disciples before meeting the risen Jesus “were sad because they believed he was dead—and we [too often] are sad even though we believe that he is alive.”

We continue to make this journey with our people in a time of unusual uncertainty: uncertainties regarding the novel coronavirus with confusing, seemingly contradictory statistics, predictions, and interpretations of where we are in this unfolding crisis both as a nation and as South Carolinians; uncertainties also about the flattened economy and of how a financial depression will affect our people and our congregations. Hardly a deanery clericus zoom conference ends without the question being asked just when I think we will be back in our buildings. My answer continues to be that the medical and social state is fluid and it is not realistic for me to predict an answer at this time. My commitment to you is that I will continue to keep in regular communication with you regarding this and other developments and attempt to give you advance notice whenever I can.

For now, we continue to be out of our buildings for public worship. That means for most of you the online services are the primary means of congregational worship. I am however permitting those who believe it will be beneficial for their people the opportunity to administer the pre-consecrated sacrament. Please note this is permissible not required.

In many of our larger congregations, the logistics of offering the sacrament in this manner may only add to the burdens of ministry and therefore will not be helpful or even advisable at this time. Indeed, many of our larger congregations will choose to wait and continue with the present methods of ministry. This may be true for smaller congregations as well particularly where the priest is in the immune sensitive category. Others may find it a welcome “loosening” of a prior restriction.

One final observation for us all. As our nation moves into state and regional models of reopening, we may well be faced as a diocese in realizing that “one size” or model of adapting and reopening will not do for all, at least for all at the same time. I will do my best to protect our unity even as we may not have complete uniformity in the timeline. This may be but one early example. Realistically, of course, all should understand that this has already happened in the shutdown and even continues. Some of our smaller congregations were not able to adapt as quickly or as well as our larger churches to the online worship service models. Frankly, they had the hardest time hearing my Episcopal Directive in closing their churches particularly as attendance isn’t much larger than what others have in order to do a live online service.

Now, for those who are planning to offer the pre-consecrated sacrament to your people these are my directives and recommendations. I will want to have a conference call with those who choose to distribute the sacrament on April 26 early in that week to learn from your experience. We will then evaluate this moving forward.

Directives. The first Sunday this is permitted will be April 26, 2020. You will need to consecrate the bread and, where in prepackaged individual cups, the wine well in advance of the Sunday worship. If you have not already purchased the individual cups, please do not try to construct or assemble your own. Also, please recognize this is not an abandonment of the common cup. It is a temporary allowance for our current crisis. If you do not have the pre-packaged sealed hosts, you will need to package this in sealable plastic bags. You or those doing this shall have thoroughly washed their hands and used disinfectant (and if you so choose, plastic gloves). However, the gloves do not make up for washing with soup and water. Please also use facemasks when packaging. How you distribute this to your people will be determined by your local systems but please instruct those involved to use every precaution of recommended social distancing.

Recommendations: Those parishioners who receive the sacrament should store the sacrament in a respectful place in their home perhaps placing it in a vessel and then putting it in a china cabinet or other respectful, protected place. On the Sunday of the communion, they should place the sacrament on a plate removing the bread from the prepackaged wrap or plastic bag prior to the service. Creating a reverent atmosphere is encouraged. After participating in the online service—the gospel read and preached, creed, confession and absolution, words of institution and Lord’s Prayer, the priest leading the service and the parishioners at home will receive the sacrament. For those who will be viewing the service but without the sacrament please include the prayer for “Spiritual Communion” as a means of including everyone. You may have parishioners participate who choose not to receive the preconsecrated sacrament, who live in a retirement community, or out of town and are viewing your worship service.

Drive by pickup for same Sunday Communion. As you know from the Deanery Zoom calls I’m less sanguine about this but should you choose to do it on the Sunday of April 26 you will need to allow for sufficient time after the service concludes to package the host for distribution for those driving by the church to pick it up. All the precautions noted above shall be employed. This applies to those distributing to the parishioners who drive by the church. Practice the best patterns of social distancing.

I remain grateful for you and your faithful ministry to our Lord and his people and confident we shall be more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us!

May the Peace and Joy of the Risen Christ be with you and the people of God you serve in Him,

–The Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence is Bishop of The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina

1. How do issues with testing impact governors’ ability to meet the benchmarks laid out in the guidelines?

Testing remains one of the biggest problems with containing the coronavirus and allowing places to move toward recovery. Despite Trump’s boasts, testing is still not widespread in the U.S. Not everyone who wants a test can get one. Only people with symptoms are getting them — and not all of them are — and asymptomatic people are able to spread the disease. That means no one really knows just how widespread the virus is. And without a vaccine or known treatment, there’s the risk of more outbreaks….

Read it all.

Coronavirus Latest: Despite Trump’s Optimism, There’s Still A Long Road To Reopening https://t.co/nXzLU7fbqj

— NPR Health News (@NPRHealth) April 17, 2020

When Albert Jones learned it was 94-year-old Barbara’s birthday, he stopped what he was doing to sing “Happy Birthday” to her; enjoy it all.

Sadly, Christians seem to be disproportionately fooled by conspiracy theories. I’ve also said before that when Christians spread lies, they need to repent of those lies. Sharing fake news makes us look foolish and harms our witness.

We saw this in the last election when some of the troll factories focused on conservative, evangelical Christians. Here we go again.

What now?

First, we need to speak up— particularly to those fooled yet again— and lovingly say, “You need to go to trusted sources.” Social media news feeds are not a trusted source. That’s why we created coronavirusandthechurch.com, to provide credible information for pastors. But, there are plenty of credible news sources— generally from outlets that do not have a track record of conspiracy peddling.

Second, God has not called us to be easily fooled. Gullibility is not a Christian virtue. Believing and sharing conspiracies does not honor the Lord. It may make you feel better, like you are in the know, but it can end up harming others and it can hurt your witness.

Read it all.

I’ve said before that when Christians spread lies, they need to repent of those lies. Sharing fake news makes us look stupid and harms our witness. Now we are seeing it again with Christians spreading coronavirus conspiracies. https://t.co/R7UyKNCfAf

— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) April 15, 2020

In times of crisis and uncertainty, faith and a sense of community are vital.

That’s why, during the coronavirus pandemic, churches across Newham are doing everything they can to help their congregations remain connected – both spiritually and socially.

As Reverend Dave Chesney, vicar at Ascension Church, Victoria Dock, puts it: “Churches may be closed, but our hearts are open”.

Churches have explored new ways to reach and communicate with their congregation – their “family” – since places of worship were told to close by the government to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Ascension has been contacting people and sending out notices by phone, text and email, and started a WhatsApp group so members can stay in touch with their vicar and each other.

Read it all.

Ascension Church in Newham, east London has set up a food bank with the Council during the coronavirus restrictions. The church is also sending chocolates, biscuits & cards as the new Nightingale Hospital and hotels housing staff are within its parish.https://t.co/cmtPJ2wR6I

— Janet Gough (@Gough_Janet) April 16, 2020