South Carolina saw its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases on Thursday as officials announced 21 patients tested presumptively positive for the illness.

As of the latest update, there were 81 known cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, in 17 counties in the Palmetto State.

“This will likely be an extended response,” said Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist.

If people don’t follow social distancing recommendations as well as practicing good hygiene, the state could see a doubling in the number of cases, as has happened in other areas, Bell said.

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S.C. saw its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases on Thursday.

21 patients tested presumptively positive for the illness. https://t.co/JHPGncV7Dx

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

But all of that assumes that we can’t change. It’s based on the assumption that the only two choices are millions of deaths or a wrecked society.

That’s not true. We can create a third path. We can decide to meet this challenge head-on. It is absolutely within our capacity to do so. We could develop tests that are fast, reliable, and ubiquitous. If we screen everyone, and do so regularly, we can let most people return to a more normal life. We can reopen schools and places where people gather. If we can be assured that the people who congregate aren’t infectious, they can socialize.

We can build health-care facilities that do rapid screening and care for people who are infected, apart from those who are not. This will prevent transmission from one sick person to another in hospitals and other health-care facilities. We can even commit to housing infected people apart from their healthy family members, to prevent transmission in households.

These steps alone still won’t be enough.

Read it all.

“We can make things better; it’s not too late. But we have to be willing to act.” @aaronecarroll and @ashishkjha offer a strategy for beating the coronavirus pandemic: https://t.co/D1txAwUjXG

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) March 19, 2020

Struck down by coronavirus at the age of 83, the long life of Alfredo Visioli ended with a short ceremony at a graveyard near Cremona, his hometown in northern Italy.

“They buried him like that, without a funeral, without his loved ones, with just a blessing from the priest,” said his granddaughter Marta Manfredi who couldn’t attend. Like most of the old man’s family – like most of Italy – she was confined to her home.

“When all this is over,” she vows, “we will give him a real funeral.”

Read it all.

American adults of all ages — not just those in their 70s, 80s and 90s — are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus, according to a report on nearly 2,500 of the first recorded cases in the United States.

The report, issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that — as in other countries — the oldest patients had the greatest likelihood of dying and of being hospitalized. But of the 508 patients known to have been hospitalized, 38 percent were notably younger — between 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 patients who were admitted to intensive care units were adults under 65, the C.D.C. reported.

“I think everyone should be paying attention to this,” said Stephen S. Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “It’s not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they’re young and healthy.”

The findings served to underscore an appeal issued Wednesday at a White House briefing by Dr. Deborah Birx, a physician and State Department official who is a leader of the administration’s coronavirus task force. Citing similar reports of young adults in Italy and in France being hospitalized and needing intensive care, Dr. Birx implored the millennial generation to stop socializing in groups and to take care to protect themselves and others.

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Younger Adults Make Up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S. https://t.co/3kGyV5omBu

— Jeffrey Duchin (@DocJeffD) March 19, 2020

I asked Collins whether that means we seem to be tracking with what happened in Italy.

“Right,” Collins told me. “If you look at the curve of new cases being diagnosed over the course of the last month, just look at the curve of what happened in Italy, and then look at our curve in the U.S., and you say if you go back eight days from today, they had about the same number of cases that we have today—that is, slightly over 2,000. And then if we follow that same track, then eight days from [March 22], we would be having the same kind of incredible crisis that they are facing.” (The New York Times described the catastrophe befalling Italy: “The coronavirus epidemic raging through Italy has already left streets empty and shops shuttered as 60 million Italians are essentially under house arrest. There are the exhausted doctors and nurses toiling day and night to keep people alive. There are children hanging drawings of rainbows from their windows and families singing from their balconies. But the ultimate metric of pandemics and plagues is the bodies they leave behind. In Italy, with the oldest population in Europe, the toll has been heavy, with more than 2,100 deaths, the most outside of China. On Monday alone, more than 300 people died.”)

Collins added this important qualifier: “Now we have a chance to change that, by applying now the most draconian measures on social distancing to try to limit the spread of coronavirus from person to person. But we will not succeed at changing the course from that exponential curve unless there is full national engagement in those commitments to try to reduce spread. I think we’re getting there; certainly in the last few days there seems to be a lot of waking up to just how serious the threat is, but that’s obviously not universal across this large and complicated country.”

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Francis Collins, a highly respected geneticist and the head of the NIH:

“It is incumbent on all of us to severely limit our social interactions. We need to ask the question about every interaction we have, and whether it is necessary or not.”https://t.co/8LL3kf8yI1

— Sarah Pulliam Bailey (@spulliam) March 18, 2020

Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.

A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

The detailed revelations by Caixin Global, a respected independent publication, provide the clearest evidence yet of the scale of the cover-up in the crucial early weeks when the opportunity was lost to control the outbreak.

Censors have been rapidly deleting the report from the Chinese internet.

Read it all (subscription).

A Wuhan lab that identified COVID-19 as a highly contagious pathogen in late December was ordered by local officials to stop tests and destroy samples. Beijing is now scrambling to censor the story https://t.co/3a28zGcPXn

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 18, 2020

An infection control experiment that was rolled out in a small Italian community at the start of Europe’s coronavirus crisis has stopped all new infections in the town that was at the centre of the country’s outbreak.

Through testing and retesting of all 3,300 inhabitants of the town of Vò, near Venice, regardless of whether they were exhibiting symptoms, and rigorous quarantining of their contacts once infection was confirmed, health authorities have been able to completely stop the spread of the illness there.

Andrea Crisanti, an infections expert at Imperial College London who is taking part in the Vò project while on sabbatical at the University of Padua, urged countries that have been limiting virus testing, which includes the UK and US, to learn lessons and ramp up the numbers of people being screened.

“In the UK, there are a whole lot of infections that are completely ignored,” Prof Crisanti told the Financial Times. “We were able to contain the outbreak here because we identified and eliminated the ‘submerged’ infections and isolated them,” he said of the Vò approach. “That is what makes the difference.”

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Aggressive testing helps Italian town cut new coronavirus cases to zero https://t.co/YSSmQkzogR via @IrishTimesWorld

— Dirk Brockmann (@DirkBrockmann) March 18, 2020

We are lost in a trackless forest of information. We grasp for the apple of knowledge in the hope it will bring us peace, and yet fear lies coiled liked a worm within the apple. We consume the apple; the worm consumes us. The food we hoped would satisfy only makes our hunger more painful. No amount of knowledge will take our fear away.

To be human is to stand suspended over a chasm. To be human is to be vulnerable.

But when have we ever not been vulnerable? We have never been more than one week, one day, or even one moment away from losing the things we love in this world.

O Lord, we have always been in your hands. At your mercy. Why should that frighten us now?

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Combatting coronavirus is unlike any we’ve experienced in our lifetimes. Yet we believe there’s beauty even in times of trial.

Beginning today and each weekday hereafter, for however long, we will publish a meditation from President and CEO @TimDalrymple_https://t.co/UKn6dJhZU1

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) March 18, 2020

Greetings in the strong name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in whose fellowship we, by the grace of God, are most richly blessed and favored to abide. Peace, hope and love in Christ Jesus!

As the coronavirus COVID-19 has increased its spread we have all received from local, state and national authorities ever more restricting guidelines for gatherings and social distancing. There is something hauntingly biblical as the guidelines have narrowed from 100 to 50 and now to 10 persons for public gatherings. And, of course, we remember St. Paul’s teaching, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” (Romans 13:1)

In the 12 plus years I have been your bishop, I have known my share of joyous hours as well as those heavy of heart. These last few days since cancelling our Diocesan Convention have fallen in both categories. Giving a further directive to our clergy yesterday to cancel on-site worship services for the next two weeks has been troubling to them and to me. However, it has also been quite encouraging—alive with possibilities. As I talked with our rectors in the Charleston deanery and with the deans of our diocese yesterday, I was heartened as they shared ideas and ways they are pastoring and caring for their parishioners during this season. What a godly and sacrificial group of clergy serve our congregations. Throughout this week, I will continue to have conference calls with the clergy in our deaneries to share ideas for ministry and support.

The church down through the centuries has faced many crises. During the Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793 Christian clergy and laity distinguished themselves in caring for sick; the plagues that visited London and other cities and towns of Europe during the Middle Ages and later, became the things that saints were made of. During wars and rumors of war, on battlefields and through bombing raids, the church continued to gather, lifting high the cross of Christ. Missionary doctors and nurses, military chaplains, parish clergy, nuns, and mendicants, like St. Francis embracing confidently the leprous, caring for the sick and dying, have been hallmarks of our history that we as believers rightly celebrate.

Nevertheless, I suggest that faithfulness in an age of pandemic means a church united and confident enough not to meet, at least not in the buildings we normally call the church. To live out our faith in our homes and with our families offers us an opportunity to grow deeper in prayer and in the fruit of the Spirit. This time of social distancing, worshipping and keeping in touch with others online and through small group fellowships provide us an opportunity to cultivate the spiritual disciplines of silence, solitude, journaling and reading and mediating on Holy Scripture. Increasing our family time and personal devotions might make this the most fruitful and memorable Lent ever. For the busy parent with children out of school and restless, Brother Lawrence’s little classic, Practicing the Presence of God, might be just the perfect Lenten reading!

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Bishop Mark Lawrence speaking at @AFM_US conference on 2 Timothy chapter 4 and finishing the race well. “What are those things that keep you from a vibrant relationship with God?” Quoting @JohnOrtberg, “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” #Anglican pic.twitter.com/eIpxB0sQGb

— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) September 25, 2019

Gov. Henry McMaster ordered Tuesday that restaurants and bars stop dine-in service starting Wednesday. He is prohibiting gatherings of 50 people or more in order to slow community spread of the coronavirus. South Carolina had 47 reported cases in 13 counties as of Tuesday afternoon.

McMaster also ordered that state tax deadlines, both to file and pay, be delayed until June 1.

The new cases announced Tuesday include one case in Beaufort County, two cases in Charleston County, one case in Calhoun County, five cases in Kershaw County, one new case in Lexington County, one case in Richland County, one case in York County, one case in Greenville County and one case in Horry County.

A case previously identified as a case from Kershaw County was actually a Fairfield County case, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials said.

Read it all.

New: Gov. Henry McMaster ordered Tuesday that restaurants and bars stop dine-in service starting Wednesday.https://t.co/bdIYfXn2Wf

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) March 17, 2020

Amid the desperate crowds and sparse shelves at supermarkets across the country, there is grace in the aisles. Jayde Powell is a “shopping angel,” and she and her growing army of volunteers are providing free grocery delivery to the sick and elderly.

Powell is an honor student at the University of Nevada, Reno. She got the idea to organize a few volunteers to help out during the pandemic when her mother mentioned calling elderly neighbors to see whether they needed anything.

“As a pre-med student, I know that people who are older or people who have heart, lung or immune conditions are especially at risk for contracting the virus,” Powell told CNN.

She started “Shopping Angels” by enlisting about 20 members of her medical fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon. As need grew, she reached out to other classmates and turned to social media to recruit more. But Powell credits her interview with CNN affiliate KVVU for putting Shopping Angels on the national scene.

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Jayde Powell is a “shopping angel,” and she and her growing army of volunteers are providing free grocery delivery to sick and elderly people who have been left isolated by the coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/4DAGoc3DjC

— CNN (@CNN) March 17, 2020

Today, Archbishop @JohnSentamu and I are calling @churchofengland to suspend public worship to help stem the spread of #coronavirus. We must be a radically different church for now – but one that’s hopeful, prayerful and committed to serving others: https://t.co/cU8ZQIdzcb

— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) March 17, 2020

The hospital had planned to send severe cases to Bergamo. “But we got indications that, if patients are over 65 or 70, they won’t get intubated,” said Davide Grataroli, one of the hospital doctors. “So, we’ve chosen to manage them here as best we can.”

That has been the situation for nearly three weeks. The patients know that the lack of intensive-care facilities dooms those not strong enough to survive the disease with limited help. “They accept it with resignation and no complaints,” said Ms. Busi, the nurse.

“The most devastating part is that they are dying alone,” she said. “Families see the patient for the last time at the emergency room. The next time is at the mortuary.”

Such a lonely death is hard to take, the nurse said: “It’s not our culture. We’re very connected here.”

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“They are dying alone. Families see the patient for the last time at the emergency room. The next time is at the mortuary.”

An extraordinary @wsj report from Italy, via ⁦@MMQWalker⁩ and ⁦@MarkMaremont⁩ https://t.co/pKtEC8M5b8

— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) March 17, 2020

In a rare piece of good news about Covid-19, a team of infectious disease experts calculates that the fatality rate in people who have symptoms of the disease caused by the new coronavirus is about 1.4%. Although that estimate applies specifically to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began, and is based on data from there, it offers a guide to the rest of the world, where many countries might see even lower death rates.

The new figure is significantly below earlier estimates of 2% or 3% and well below the death rate for China based on simply dividing deaths by cases, which yields almost 4%. While it is still higher than the average 0.1% death rate from seasonal flu, it raises hopes that the worst consequence of the coronavirus will be uncommon.

Cutting against that optimism is the expectation that, because no one was immune to the new virus, “the majority of the population will be infected” absent the quick arrival of a vaccine or drastic public health interventions such as closing public places and canceling public events, the scientists conclude in a paper submitted to a journal but not yet peer-reviewed.

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Lower death rate estimates for coronavirus, especially for non-elderly, provide glimmer of hope https://t.co/Nc5fValr1o

— STAT (@statnews) March 17, 2020

That will depend on several variables, according to public health experts, some of which remain unknown. For instance, scientists still don’t know whether warm weather will suppress the virus, as it does the seasonal flu, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development think tank and former USAID official in the Obama administration, told MarketWatch.

Experts also don’t know whether COVID-19 will become a seasonal bug akin to influenza, or whether it might return in the fall in a mutated form, said Joshua Epstein, a professor of epidemiology at the NYU School of Global Public Health. Even after a vaccine is developed, he added, some Americans are likely to refuse it.

One thing seems clear: “The length of time that this is with us is really a function of how good a job we do right now of limiting the spread,” Konyndyk told MarketWatch.

To that end, the CDC has urged “social distancing” — that is, steering clear of mass gatherings and staying about six feet away from other people when possible — to help slow the transmission of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. And, counterintuitively, a longer period of precautions like social distancing could mean better outcomes in the long run, experts say.

Read it all.

How long will #coronavirus last? It depends — but ‘prepare yourself for a long ride’

“If you feel like this was all for nothing, then you’ve done it right” -epidemiologist Emily Landon, University of Chicago Medicine https://t.co/zP3dmhRQpf via @MarketWatch #COVIDー19

— Marlena Chertock (@Mchertock) March 16, 2020

Christ Saint Paul’stakes the health and well being of our parishioners seriously. With the unknown possibilities of the spread of the coronavirus, the Bishop and CSP leadership has decided for the next two weeks, not to hold our regular services and events.

But we do have new and innovative ways to stay connected to our families to share with you!…

Read it all.

No normal services in the Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina for the next two weeks https://t.co/K8tN97aFMG #parishministry #lowcountrylife #worship #coronavirus #covid19 #publichealth #religion #usa pic.twitter.com/bFRmZQNYCz

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 16, 2020

Even in grief, the rules of hand hygiene and social isolation apply.

That’s what thousands of funeral directors learned Monday when they joined a Facebook livestream to hear firsthand from the U.S. Centers for Disease, Control, and Prevention how coronavirus will change how Americans die and are buried.

The new disease, which has killed more than 6,500 people worldwide since it emerged in China in late 2019, has put an end to social gatherings around the world. In the United States, the CDC advised organizers to cancel or postpone any events of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks across the country. This extends to “large funerals,” said David Berendes, an epidemiologist with the CDC. (It also applies to weddings, which should also be canceled.)

Other countries are grappling with similar issues. In Italy, which has Europe’s largest elderly population, 300 people died on Monday alone, according to the New York Times. Morgues are overflowing and funerals are illegal after the country banned civil and religious ceremonies outright to stop the spread of the disease.

Berendes recommended digital solutions to the mortician’s dilemma: “If livestreaming and limiting events to immediate family is possible, we encourage that,” he said. For those who do visit funeral homes, Berendes recommends having hand sanitizer at the ready and staggering funeral services so that different families don’t overlap.

Read it all.

The CDC told thousands of funeral directors this morning that it is time to start canceling funerals and livestreaming them instead https://t.co/e3bSuFNCME

— Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) March 16, 2020

COLUMBIA, MD. — It was Sunday morning, and the vast parking lots of Bridgeway Community Church sat empty.

Instead of greeting thousands of worshipers, volunteers stood in the damp cold, ready to explain to anyone who might not have heard that services are now online only, at least until the threat of Covid-19 has passed.

Inside, the Missions Cafe was closed. The halls no longer resounded with congregants singing or children racing to Sunday school. For a church whose stated mission is to be a multicultural community “where people were sad they had to wait a week to come back,” waiting took on a whole new meaning.

This week, as the coronavirus has spread, one American ritual after another has vanished. March Madness is gone. No more morning gym workouts or lunches with co-workers. No more visits to grandparents in nursing homes. The Boston Marathon, held through war and weather since 1897, was postponed.

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This by @elizabethjdias is unlike anything else I’ve read on the coronavirus. People who practice togetherness have lessons to teach all of us: they’re pausing to reflect, to check on friends, to go to the river with a sandwich when the sun is shining. https://t.co/HRYYhgasDG

— Jia Lynn Yang (@jialynnyang) March 16, 2020

COVID-19 is a great opportunity for witness. Our communities are full of scared people. Depression, anxiety, and suicide are all likely to spike in the next few weeks. I can guarantee you of this: COVID-19 comes paired with a mental health epidemic. Bereft of community, the outdoors, work, and school, individuals and families will face an unprecedented assault on their minds. The Church must respond. We must make our services physically safe places, adopting a higher standard of hygiene than wider society, so that we can provide a refuge of mind and spirit to scared people.

Since COVID-19 is especially dangerous to elders, churches can seize the opportunity to deliver food and basic supplies to older people in their communities so that they don’t have to go out. This will save lives, minister to the spirits of these dear brothers and sisters, and be a witness to all of their watching neighbors.

Since COVID-19 will lead to school cancellations, Christian families can organize parent-shares for small groups of kids, and use these as opportunities for discipleship in the home, which has proven to have an immensely fruitful effect.

Since COVID-19 will cause many people to be afraid, Christians can, when appropriate, meet friends for dinner or coffee and talk about fear, and the God who casts out all fear. We can explain that we’re just as afraid as everyone else, that we aren’t really very brave people: but Christ died for us. Whom then shall we fear? COVID-19? Hardly.

Since shortages of basic commodities are a guarantee, Christians can set an example of community support. Our churches can pool masks, soap, and other supplies from members, distributing as needed. Our church supplies a week of masks to everyone who shows up on Sunday morning, while many of our church families, including my own family, have more-or-less resolved to share our supplies until there is nothing left. When they have two dollops of hand soap left, Christians give the first one away.

This is the witness of our ancestors in the faith since time immemorial; this is the path they have walked; this is how we love our neighbors. We love our neighbor as ourselves, even laying down our lives for them.

Read it all.

Read it all.

Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve” https://t.co/AEnMikff6c

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 16, 2020

“Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Dr. Fauci, appearing on all the major Sunday morning television shows, warned that it could be several weeks to a few months before life in the U.S. begins to return to normal. Dr. Fauci urged people to work from home if they can and practice “social distancing” to prevent a potentially catastrophic spike in infections.

He said he wouldn’t eat at crowded restaurants or fly on planes unless it is necessary, advice that he said applies especially to older Americans and those with health conditions. He said parents should think twice about sending their children out to crowded playgrounds. And young people, even though they appear to be less vulnerable, could be endangering the lives of their grandparents or elderly relatives by not heeding public health warnings, he said.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to congregate anybody anywhere,” Dr. Fauci said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

As Dr. Fauci issued his warnings, the Trump administration grappled with how to handle an influx of Americans and other travelers into the country, who were clogging customs at major airports in response to the European travel ban.

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Regardless of our beliefs, the one experience common to all humanity is that we die. In that we share a kinship. But Christians can, through their actions and faith, lodge their protest against this great enemy, not as a shaking of one’s fist at the wind, but as testimony to the greater hope of the eventual defeat of death itself. The thing we must always struggle to discern is the proper shape of that testimony.

When I was younger, I had an aunt stay with us for a few days who was afflicted with H.I.V. I was only a child and the information was hazy and jumbled in my developing mind. I do remember vividly sitting at our dinner table eating fries with a little too much ketchup. She came and sat next to me and asked if she could have some. I was afraid. What if she had a cut on her lip and bled into the fries and I wouldn’t be able to tell? Could it be spread through saliva? I was terrified, but I loved my aunt more than I feared her disease. So we ate fries together and I swallowed my terror. That hasty communion is my lasting memory of her.

During the AIDS epidemic, many churches showed their solidarity by sharing the bread and the wine with the infected to show that there was nothing to fear. Today, it may be that we show our solidarity by not sharing.

The Gospel of John recounts Jesus’ words to his disciples in the upper room before his death. During this final discourse, he tells them that it is better that he goes away so that the comforter (the Holy Spirit) would come. The point is that the loss of his physical presence through his death, resurrection and ascension would lead to an even deeper communion with God. It is possible that, strangely enough, the absence of the church will be a great testimony to the presence of God in our care for our neighbors.

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The archdiocese of New York City has cancelled Sunday Mass.

“What did the church do in the year of our Lord 2020 when sickness swept our land?” writes Anglican priest @esaumccaulley. “We met in smaller groups, washed our hands, and prayed.” https://t.co/CAnpMvp2tD

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) March 14, 2020

The Roche case offers some encouragement: Brown said that the company started working on its new test last month, and finished the work in six weeks. Roche asked the FDA for emergency clearance earlier this week, and received it around the stroke of midnight Friday. As he announced a national emergency Friday afternoon, President Trump promised that testing capacity would eventually reach 5 million.

Testing serves two purposes. It can tell whether an individual person is sick. But it also acts as our way of knowing how bad the epidemic is, and where it is worst. Other types of technologies might help with the second part, if not the first. Blood tests that look to see if people have antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 –when they become available — can tell us how many people have had Covid-19. Next-generation DNA sequencing technologies could also play a role in monitoring it.

Through all this, the CDC and other health officials now need to follow an old maxim: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Regulatory standards are important, and if the U.S. had organized its response sooner, getting the developers of diagnostic tests and major labs ready, there would have been time for an orderly process. But this is an emergency. And there is a need for speed.

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Roche is going to ship out 400k #covid19 test kits out of NJ this weekend to labs CDC has given them hopefully end of next week we’ll have a better visibility on things https://t.co/QRMEDnKuny

— Peter Pham (@peterpham) March 14, 2020

Gov. Henry McMaster has declared a state of emergency Friday and is requiring all schools in Kershaw and Lancaster counties to close in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist, meanwhile, confirmed that the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has confirmed an additional presumptive positive case of COVID-19, as the disease caused by the new virus is known, in the Kershaw County city of Camden.

The announcement brings South Carolina’s case total to 13.

Bell said that although there is no widespread transmission in South Carolina, DHEC expects to identify more coronavirus cases.

“At this time it is recommended for the majority of South Carolinians to continue their daily routines,” she said, adding that the public should follow basic hygiene precautions like hand washing, covering coughs and staying home if sick. “We are still learning about this virus and we are committed to keeping the public informed.”

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JUST IN: Gov. @henrymcmaster will declare a state of emergency Friday and require all schools in Kershaw and Lancaster counties to close in response to the coronavirus pandemic.https://t.co/Bs6zLVRRcZ

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) March 13, 2020

In 1918, the city of Philadelphia threw a parade that killed thousands of people. Ignoring warnings of influenza among soldiers preparing for World War I, the march to support the war effort drew 200,000 people who crammed together to watch the procession. Three days later, every bed in Philadelphia’s 31 hospitals was filled with sick and dying patients, infected by the Spanish flu.

By the end of the week, more than 4,500 were dead in an outbreak that would claim as many as 100 million people worldwide. By the time Philadelphia’s politicians closed down the city, it was too late.

A different story played out in St. Louis, just 900 miles away. Within two days of detecting its first cases among civilians, the city closed schools, playgrounds, libraries, courtrooms, and even churches. Work shifts were staggered and streetcar ridership was strictly limited. Public gatherings of more than 20 people were banned.

The extreme measures—now known as social distancing, which is being called for by global health agencies to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus—kept per capita flu-related deaths in St. Louis to less than half of those in Philadelphia, according to a 2007 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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In 1918, Philadelphia threw a big parade supporting the troops in WWI. Three days later, every hospital bed in the city was filled, & by the end of the week 4,500 were dead from Spanish Flu. This didn’t happen in cities that cancelled parades. https://t.co/QvoczOR4Cj

— Andrea Seabrook (@RadioBabe) March 11, 2020

You may find out more about the author there.

March 12, 2020
Dear Saints of St. John’s,

Grace and Peace to you!

As to the spread of the corona virus Covid-19, the landscape has changed markedly over the last few days, and we would like to make you aware of some changes and concerns and postponements that we have authorized going forward. The World Health Organization has recently declared the corona virus Covid-19 a pandemic. That means that we are in a very different mode of combatting its spread than even a few days ago.

When I (Fr. Greg+) was in my early twenties and working as a Ranger at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, I had the occasion of working as a firefighter on a blaze that threatened the ranch. To my surprise, one of the most effective ways of stopping the fire was not the dousing of a blaze already raging (which could be fraught with danger to the firefighter), but was the building of fire-breaks, spaces cleared of burnable material away from the current blaze and in advance of the rapidly moving fire. Although the chopping down of trees and clearing of ground cover appeared destructive, it saved many more acres of forest than were destroyed in the clearing. This was not done out of fear, but out of wise and prudent management. What we are recommending, and mandating in some cases, are ways to build “fire-breaks” around the spread of the virus. And we do this not out of fear, but out of love of our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those most vulnerable to the virus, and a love for all of humanity.

In light of rapidly changing health statistics relative to the spread and mortality of the virus, updates from ACNA, WHO, and other public health experts, Archbishop Foley Beach has issued this directive:
“Due to the possibility of the spread of the corona virus, those individuals over age 60 and anyone who is ‘immune compromised’ should consider worshiping at home on Sundays until further notice. Anyone with any symptoms of cold/flu should stay home and self-quarantine. Anyone who has traveled in any affected area of this country, or another country with an outbreak, must stay home and self-quarantine.”

Meetings on the Church Premises
Effective immediately, all Sunday School classes, bible studies, missions meetings, small groups, youth groups, ministry partners, etc. will no longer be meeting on the church premises. The only gatherings will be, at least for now, on Sunday mornings for worship. You will shortly be receiving instructions on how to meet virtually with your small groups. We encourage you to make every effort to meet together on-line, but not in person for the short term. Remember we are building a fire-break.

Sunday Worship
Until further notice, Holy Communion is now to be administered using the Bread only. All who handle and administer the bread and Body of Christ are to privately sanitize their hands before handling (following CDC recommendations on hand-washing), and are not to touch the face or mouth during the celebration or administration of Holy Communion. Again, we are not taking this step out of fear, but for solidarity in the Body of Christ and to respect the whole range of ethical decisions that each of us will have to make in regard to this.
The Passing of the Peace by physical contact is to be omitted. We are asking parishioners to greet one another with a wave of the hand or verbal greeting with no touch.
We will also not be passing the offering plate. The offering plates will be placed at the entrance to the church and we hope that all parishioners will continue to give generously during this time of great need.

Self-Care
Please stay tuned to what is being reported locally and in the state of South Carolina, in respect to the outbreak. Follow their guidelines. Remember, this is not about us; it is about caring for the sheep. Coronavirus.gov is where you stay updated from the CDC and the government recommendations to keep our people and families safe. If you are experiencing symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever, or difficulty breathing) which are in concert with those of the corona virus, you can contact MUSC.care for a free telehealth assessment.
As from the beginning of this outbreak, one of the most effective ways of protecting yourself is by washing your hands thoroughly and covering your cough or sneeze when out in public. One parishioner has recommended that we all say the Lord’s Prayer (that takes about 20 seconds) as we wash our hands with soap and warm water.

Daily Pastoral Care Within the Body of Christ
One of our greatest concerns during this time of crisis and needful separation is the possible onset of a sense of isolation and/or depression. We do not want anyone to feel that they are alone. Please contact Fr. Greg (843-367-3342) or Fr. Jeremy (843-364-9381) if you just need to talk or have somebody pray with you. You can call us or send us text messages of particular prayer concerns, or we can even Facetime (see one another visually by phone) if that will help.
Walt Miller, our Community Pastor, is developing a phone care-list for pastoral care, so that everyone who is at risk can be contacted routinely to ensure that all are faring well during this crisis.
For those who are ‘immune compromised’ or just feel that it would not be wise for them to go out, we are setting up teams of people to shop for you or run errands for you, or drive you to a doctor’s appointment. You can contact Walt Miller (843-469-7105) if you need help in this regard. Please do not see this as an imposition…we bless God each time we exhibit the love and caring of the Body of Christ in this. We are indeed One Body.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

We love you and pray that this pandemic will lead to further strengthening of the Body of Christ and give all of us a strong desire to worship together, and make worship more central in our lives, once this crisis has passed.

–The Rev. Greg Snyder on behalf of the Clergy and Staff of St. John’s Parish Church

The Rector of Saint John’s, Johns Island, South Carolina writes his parish on ministry in the midst of the #Coronavirus outbreak https://t.co/SNLDmpHUUp #anglican #parishministry #southcarolina #lowcountrylife #health #covid19 pic.twitter.com/uBwdQrkVMo

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 13, 2020

In 1527, less than 200 years after the Black Death killed about half the population of Europe, the plague re-emerged in Luther’s own town of Wittenberg and neighboring cities. In his letter “Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague,” the famous reformer weighs the responsibilities of ordinary citizens during contagion. His advice serves as a practical guide for Christians confronting infectious disease outbreaks today.

First, Luther argued that anyone who stands in a relationship of service to another has a vocational commitment not to flee. Those in ministry, he wrote, “must remain steadfast before the peril of death.” The sick and dying need a good shepherd who will strengthen and comfort them and administer the sacraments—lest they be denied the Eucharist before their passing. Public officials, including mayors and judges, are to stay and maintain civic order. Public servants, including city-sponsored physicians and police officers, must continue their professional duties. Even parents and guardians have vocational duties toward their children.

Luther did not limit tending the sick to health care professionals. In a time when Wuhan faces a shortage of hospital beds and personnel, his counsel is especially relevant. The city, one of China’s largest with a population of about 11 million, is in the process of rapidly constructing two new hospitals to accommodate growing crowds of coronavirus patients. Lay citizens, without any medical training, may find themselves in a position of providing care to the sick. Luther challenges Christians to see opportunities to tend to the sick as tending to Christ himself (Matt. 25:41–46). Out of love for God emerges the practice of love for neighbor.

But Luther does not encourage his readers to expose themselves recklessly to danger. His letter constantly straddles two competing goods: honoring the sanctity of one’s own life, and honoring the sanctity of those in need. Luther makes it clear that God gives humans a tendency toward self-protection and trusts that they will take care of their bodies (Eph. 5:29; 1 Cor. 12:21–26). “All of us,” he says, “have the responsibility of warding off this poison to the best of our ability because God has commanded us to care for the body.” He defends public health measures such as quarantines and seeking medical attention when available. In fact, Luther proposes that not to do so is to act recklessly. Just as God has gifted humans with their bodies, so too he has gifted the medicines of the earth.

Read it all.

What did Martin Luther have to say when an epidemic occurred in his time? It can help inform our Christian response to risk, fear, and disease today:https://t.co/OEA8emcN9s

— Lutheran Advocacy CO (@LutheranAdvoCO) March 11, 2020

Several years ago, I spoke to a rather typical group of Episcopalians in a church forum and I would estimate that roughly 75% of the people in the room were over 60 years of age.

I would love to see more nuanced statistics, at this point in time, because I suspect that the gold 36-64 years old band in the middle of that Burge chart leans toward the older end of that niche. Burge notes that the average Episcopalian is 59 years old. There are now three retired United Methodists for every member under the age of 35. More Burge:

Demography is destiny for many of these denominations. They will become dramatically smaller in the next two decades based on attrition alone, whether or not they are hit by COVID-19.

But if the disease can’t be curtailed, it could become a turning point for some of these denominations: Their houses of worship are prime targets for the spread of disease.

This passage hit me hard, as well:

Connection to their fellow members is especially important for older Americans. Data from Pew Research Center indicates that the average 80-year-old spends at least eight hours a day alone, double the time a 40-year-old does. For many of the older generation, the institutions that held society together for them during the formative years have already crumbled. One of the few things that has remained constant for them is their church home, seeing the same people in the same pews every Sunday, taking the bread and drinking from the cup the same way they have done for decades. They need that consistency and community — and COVID-19 might take that away from them.

Read it all.

Must read: @ryanburge on unique #Coronavirus fears in old-line Protestant pews. https://t.co/6CJZqFffrk

— GetReligion (@GetReligion) March 12, 2020

The COVID-19 virus has spread from Asia to Europe and North America rapidly over the past week, bringing with it a level of panic and angst—everywhere from the supermarket to the stock market to the local church—not seen in recent times. The global tally is now more than 125,000 infected and more than 4,600 dead.

Churches in Singapore, which Billy Graham affirmed as the “Antioch of Asia,” have already weathered the anxiety now sweeping the world. On February 7, the nation-state’s government raised its national risk assessment level from Yellow to Orange, indicating “moderate disruption” to daily life—and in particular to large gatherings of people.

March 7 marked the one-month anniversary of Singapore—which has seen 166 cases but zero deaths—going Orange. This means that for the past month, local churches—which account for about 1 in 5 Singaporeans—have been forced into an extended period of self-examination, reflection, and action.

The process has not been straightforward, with a senior pastor afflicted with the coronavirus (and subsequently discharged), entire denominations suspending services, church-based preschools closing, and very public online disputes—in a nation that strictly enforces religious harmony—on how the situation is being handled by church leaders.

To help churches in the United States, Italy, Brazil, and other countries now facing decisions that churches in China, Korea, and Singapore have been grappling with for weeks, here are seven lessons the Singaporean church has learned over the past month…

Read it all.

Attention church leaders and pastors around the world:

Here’s what your Singaporean counterparts want you to know about reacting to coronavirus https://t.co/MXNH7QgWiG

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) March 12, 2020