South Carolina saw over 600 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, meaning the state has confirmed more cases in a seven-day period than had been identified throughout all of April.

The sum of cases discovered Wednesday and Thursday is also more than in all of March.

Officials resurrected pleas for personal accountability in social distancing and mask-wearing after Gov. Henry McMaster’s Wednesday statement that he doesn’t plan to revive the statewide shutdown to slow the disease spread.

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DHEC today announced 687 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths.

This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 16,441 and those who have died to 588.

Release: https://t.co/dqmFz1tmlP pic.twitter.com/W1lYTNkm20

— SCDHEC (@scdhec) June 11, 2020

AS churches up and down the country prepare to open for private prayer next week, but one cathedral is remaining closed until staff can unsure the building is safe.

Durham Cathedral is remaining closed due to the operational complexities involved in preparing a building of this scale for reopening, the cathedral will not reopen for private prayer on June 15, but it aspires to do so at a later point this month.

At present, cathedral clergy and staff are working hard to ensure the building is safe for staff, volunteers and members of the public to return to, at this stage for private prayer and quiet reflection only.

The Cathedral believes it is of the utmost importance that everyone onsite feels confident, safe and protected and we need to take the time to get this right….

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The Durham Cathedral Cloisters. pic.twitter.com/4YmknpP9QN

— Traditional Western Architecture 🏛 (@Trad_West_Arch) June 3, 2020

A State Department official singled out China on Wednesday as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, saying it backslid the most last year as thousands more people of faith were subjected to imprisonment and forced labor.

The accusation by Sam Brownback, the ambassador of international religious freedom, represented the latest salvo in an exchange of recriminations between Washington and Beijing. In recent months, tensions have grown as the two countries have sparred over the coronavirus, Hong Kong, press freedoms and trade. China has accused the United States of hypocrisy amid nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd and other African Americans who have died in police custody, and the Trump administration’s response to massive demonstrations.

The State Department used Wednesday’s annual Report on International Religious Freedom to increase the crescendo of criticism of China, which has been designated a “country of particular concern” on religious freedom since 1999.

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State Department rebukes China as one of the worst abusers of religious freedom https://t.co/wtlsLKiDlJ

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 10, 2020

As restrictions are lifted around the world, the sense of urgency surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic has weakened. Hundreds of millions of students have returned to school; restaurants, bars and other businesses are slowly reopening in many countries. In parts of Europe, vaccine researchers worry that they will not have enough sick people for testing.

But this historic pandemic is not ending. It is surging. There were 136,000 new infections reported on Sunday, the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic. There are more than 7 million confirmed cases so far. The number of deaths is nearing half a million, with little sign of tapering off, and global health experts are continuing to sound the alarm.

“By no means is this over,” Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization’s executive director, said Wednesday. “If we look at the numbers over the last number of weeks, this pandemic is still evolving. It is still growing in many parts of the world.”

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Analysis: The coronavirus pandemic isn’t ending — it’s surging https://t.co/sM1kH8UWPu

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 11, 2020

When we exercise, the levels of thousands of substances in our bloodstream rise and drop, according to an eye-opening new study of the immediate, interior impacts of working out. The study is the most comprehensive cataloging to date of the molecular changes that occur during and after exercise and underscores how consequential activity — and inactivity — may be for our bodies and health.

Already, of course, we have reams of evidence that exercise alters our metabolisms, muscles, genes, immune responses, hearts, stamina and almost every other organ and biological system within us. But only in recent years, with the development of sophisticated new techniques for counting and typing the thousands upon thousands of different molecules within us, have scientists been able to quantify more of the substances and steps involved in those processes.

With these techniques, they have zeroed in on various sets of molecules in our bloodstreams associated with different aspects of our biology. This research generally is known as “omics” science. Metabolomics, for instance, enumerates and analyzes molecules in our blood that influence metabolism — everything from appetite hormones to enzymes excreted by gut microbes. Genomics maps the molecules involved in gene expression; proteomics ditto for proteins; lipidomics for fat-related molecules; and so on.

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Our Exercising, Our Selves: How a workout creates a “molecular symphony.” Incredible. https://t.co/cBUtHRZ9vM

— Gerry Marzorati (@marzoTennis) June 11, 2020

To stand in the breach, to kneel in the place prayer is to hold all of this in our hearts before God: the young marching in peaceful protest; a looter and burglar fleeing the scene of violence perpetrated by his companion in crime; and all the George Floyds and David Dorns of the world . It is not only to stand in the breach, it is to have one’s heart enlarged. In the words of Edwin Corley, intercession “… is the principle by which praying people allow their own spiritual hearts to become enlarged enough to take on [through prayer] the care of others.” To share in the compassion of Jesus Christ for this world where so many people are like sheep without shepherds. To ask God’s Spirit to address our own “…feelings that have become calloused and remote for most of the people around [us].” May God work in us a deep feeling of love and compassion for His people. So we lift up those suffering from the Covid-19; those working for a vaccine and cure; those burying their loved ones either from the pandemic, the street violence or the normal stuff of life; for those who have lost their business and jobs from quarantine or fire, rioting and looting; for those who continue to suffer the weight of racial injustice; for police officers who risk their lives in their daily round of duty; and those for whom the killing of George Floyd makes the world feel less safe. That may sound almost like a litany. It is—or at least a prayer list. We pray for the light of Christ to come into our darkened world, and after this week of prayer and fasting to show each of us what the next step is, so we might fulfill the promise of our Lord. “You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

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Faithfulness in an Age of Pandemic; A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Mark Lawrencehttps://t.co/sCrdH5wqqY pic.twitter.com/WsJIIM59rj

— Anglican Diocese of SC (@anglican_sc) March 18, 2020

Bishops across the country led Anglicans in ‘taking the knee’ to mark the death of American George Floyd and to highlight injustice in British society.

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Martyn Snow, led others in kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time that a US police officer knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck.

Bishop Snow said: “I am deeply shocked by the appalling brutality we have seen against black people in America and I stand alongside those who are suffering and peacefully calling for urgent change, as well as committing to make changes in our own lives and the institutions we are part of.

“Structural and systemic racial prejudice exists across societies and institutions and we must act to change that, as well as addressing our own unconscious biases that lead us to discriminate against others.” Earlier this year he led the General Synod in a vote to apologise for racism in the Church.

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Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of thy faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of thy Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Feast day of Barnabas ‘Son of encouragement’
‘Therefore encourage one another and build each other up. (1 Thes 5:11) pic.twitter.com/tXopcLaPjV

— Pete Greig (@PeteGreig) June 11, 2015

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast revealed thyself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and dost ever live and reign in the perfect unity of love: Grant that we may always hold firmly and joyfully to this faith, and, living in praise of thy divine majesty, may finally be one in thee; who art three persons in one God, world without end.

Happy Solemnity of the Holy Trinity!

“La Santisima Trinidad”
José de Páez, 1759
National Museum of Mexican Art pic.twitter.com/MHQ7Y2yyVt

— Leo Rubinkowski (@cinephileo) June 7, 2020

Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what evil may happen on earth.
If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth;
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
He who observes the wind will not sow;
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun.

For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

–Ecclesiastes 11:1-8

“Wooden Mail-Boats” https://t.co/qtFoOGS3Lo
Prayers and #faith, #Bible verse remembered, “Cast your #bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Such were our tiny wooden #mail–#boats, no larger than loaf of bread… #writing #islandlife @LeahStJames pic.twitter.com/sK36FUtvVe

— 🍁Fran Hennessey🇨🇦 (@franehennessey) February 20, 2019