Here we go again

[cellio]

I was wondering when that would happen. My synagogue just sent email saying services this week are virtual only, and the committee in charge of reopening will meet on Sunday to decide what happens next.

Given the current wild spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19, I'm not surprised. Since we were already doing hybrid services, I'm a little disappointed that the in-person option is now unavailable for those who feel safe doing so. (Our requirement was always "fully vaccinated + mask at all times".) On the other hand:

It's been obvious all fall that it was getting worse, but the last week or so took rather an extreme turn.

(Graph is from Johns Hopkins.)

Comments

[goljerp]

My shul has (at the moment) switched to: hybrid, with max 50 distanced people in person (in a space which can legally hold > 1000 including the balcony. All people in person must be masked, pre-registered, and at pre-registration provide proof of 2 vax + booster (or 2 vax if within 6 months), including kids 5+; kids <5 must stay away for now. I'm leaving out a bit, but you get the gist...

Gotta say that graph is disturbing. I'm curious to see what the biobot data will look like ( https://biobot.io/data/ ) but right now that only goes to 12/22.

[cellio]

Yours is stricter than mine, but mine was being reasonable too (IMO). After ~15 months of Zoom-only services, we returned to the building with hybrid services in June. People have to be fully vaccinated (if old enough to be eligible) to enter the building and must wear masks at all times. Preregistration is required for all activities in the building. We don't have a formal distancing requirement, but people spread out -- we were getting maybe 20 people in-person in a room that can hold a hundred, and some of those were couples/families who can obviously sit together. (If attendance were to go up we could always move into the sanctuary that holds several hundred. Our last pre-lockdown minyan was in there with people spread out quite a bit.)

My synagogue doesn't require vax proof, though at least one other local one does, and proof of booster after six months. I sent that in so I'd have the option to go there. Mine goes by the honor system, which probably works better for religious communities than businesses.

[goljerp]

First, and most important: my apologies for the missing ) above.

I forgot to add that one benefit of being in an old building is that there are windows which actually open, and they have been open.

We weren't requiring vax proof, or boosters (or capping the size so low) before 12/25. Well, at RH/YK services we did. But, well, Omicron.

I agree about honor system -- after all, for most people, Shul is something one goes to more than once, and hopefully with a deeper connection than to a chain store. Although I guess there are people who form deep connections to businesses, too, and that's OK. I'm not on the committee that made the decision to require proof. I do know that when I was greeting earlier this year at a bat mitzvah, there was someone who decided that without people being made to prove vax status, they didn't feel comfortable attending.

[cellio]

Thanks for handling the unresolved tension. :-)

Oh yeah, openable windows make a difference. We can open some windows in our chapel (where the minyan meets), but not the sanctuary. Our building used to be a mansion; the chapel was the dining room, but the sanctuary is newer construction.