It is known that germs tend to spread in churches. This is an unfortunate but real fact backed by science and common experience, especially around spring and fall seasonal changes. This is a major reason why COVID-19 has affected churches, because of this reason and the need among many religious leaders as well as government authorities to try and make a balance between the needs of people to go to church and what we know can spread or stop a plague. God gave man a brain, and he is to use his faith with his reason, as God is the author of all reason and does not promote the unreasonable.
Unfortunately, there have been many people who, seemingly out of a well-meaning but misplaced sense of piety, have wanted to attend churches and have risked worsening the current state of COVID-19 infections. Such a case recently happened in Germany, where German authorities have traced one hundred COVID-19 infections to a single Evangelical church that recently reopened as is reported by the Christian Post.
Over 100 infections of the new coronavirus have been traced back to people who attended an evangelical church service in Frankfurt two weeks ago after restrictions on worship gatherings were eased, according to German officials.
Officials said Friday that a May 10 service at Frankfurt’s Evangelical Christian Baptist Church has been linked to new COVID-19 cases in the area even though church leaders said they adhered to social distancing guidelines and disinfected the building.
Hesse Health Minister Kai Klose told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the 107 COVID-19 cases were traced back to the church gathering after an initial report suggested that 40 attendees of the service tested positive for the virus.
Klose said Sunday that health officials had begun gathering lists of people who attended the church service and those who later came in contact with them.
“Most of them are not particularly sick,” the head of the city’s health department, Rene Gottschalk, told DPA.
Reuters reports that it’s not clear whether all 107 people who contracted the virus attended the service or if the figure also includes individuals who contracted the virus from people who were at the service.
The church’s gathering was held after the state of Hesse relaxed lockdown restrictions on worship gatherings on May 1. Chancellor Angela Merkel approved plans to reopen churches and other houses of worship, museums, and businesses as the country began lifting lockdown restrictions earlier this month.
Klose said the worshipers affected by the virus are residents of Frankfurt and three other districts in Hesse state.
“We are deeply dismayed and sad that the infection has found its way into the community and has spread with great dynamism,” a statement on the church’s website reads. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all sick and relatives who are going through a difficult time. Our consolation is that many sick people are well on the way to recovery and some have already recovered.” (source)
It is critical to love one’s neighbor as himself. One does elevate man over God, but how one loves his neighbors is often a reflection of how he loves God.
Love God and your neighbor- please exercise cautions until this pandemic passes.