Dear fellow worshipers at Living Faith Uniting Church
Re: New Places of Worship COVID Safe Industry Plan
Living Faith had recommenced in person worship services based on the Synod Public Health Directives Plan. In the last few days, the QLD Government released a “New Places of Worship COVID Safe Industry Plan” This plan is mandatory. So, your COVID Wardens, Worship and Service Teams and the Church Council are all having to make quick checks and changes to ensure we comply so that the service can be held this Sunday 4/10/20.
While most of the requirements intended to facilitate COVID safe worship are already in place, there has been a significant body of work to ensure that we can comply with the Industry Plan as a whole.
In the new plan, there are several issues that attendees at worship are to be alerted to. Most will have already been communicated to you but there are some new ones. To ensure that we are complying with the plan, it was considered best to reiterate them all for you. So, hang on and here we go!
Stay at home if unwell
Staff, volunteers, and congregation members stay at home if:
you are sick
go home immediately if you become unwell
be tested for COVID-19 if you have any symptoms of acute respiratory disease (cough, sore throat, shortness of breath) or a fever or history of fever
and remain in isolation at home till you get a negative result for COVID-19
Please contact your pastoral carer or the minister, so that we may pray and assist you if we can.
Advise us upon arrival
Please advise us, if upon arrival, you realise any of the following apply:
you are unwell and displaying respiratory symptoms,
you have been in close contact with a person who has COVID-19,
you have COVID-19 symptoms,
you have been in a COVID-19 hotspot,
you have been overseas or have been tested for COVID-19.
Regrettably, you must not enter the building if any of these apply to you. We will assist you if we can to obtain appropriate care.
Information & Education about COVID-19 measures at Living Faith
For the service tomorrow, the COVID safe plan will be sent to Worship and Service Team members. I will make contact to answer any questions that they have.
Going forward, it is planned to conduct information and education briefings on Zoom. These will bring all staff, volunteers, and interested congregational members up to speed on COVID-19 measures at Living Faith, changes to tasks and practices and appropriate cleaning and disinfection practices.
Government Advice for Vulnerable Queenslanders
The following people are at increased risk due to COVID-19:
People over 70 years of age
People over 65 years of age with an underlying health issue
people with compromised immune systems, and
First Nations People over the age of 50 with one or more chronic diseases.
Restrictions are now easing, which means you can leave your home for more than just essential reasons.
We strongly encourage seniors to protect themselves and leave their homes in a careful and considered way.
This may change if the COVID situation changes and the government advise to vulnerable people may revert to recommending that they stay at home.
We encourage any in the vulnerable category, to take the prevailing government advice seriously. However, we respect your right to make wholistic decisions about your health and lifestyle.
COVID Record Keeping – Full name
For contact tracing, the plan calls for the full name, email address (residential address if email not available), phone number, date of patronage and time of patronage of attendees to be recorded. Holding your contact details enables the use of a name only attendance sheet to facilitate prompt recording and minimise the need for physical recording of your details.
It would be appreciated if those of you who have entrusted us your details previously please email me at dingdong6015@gmail with your full names so that we can complete the requirements if called upon by Public Health Officials to do so. For example, you may be surprised to know that my full name is Thomas Scott Bell.
Good hygiene practices
Instruct staff and attendees to practise good hygiene by frequently cleaning their hands.
Hand washing should take at least 20 to 30 seconds.
Wash the whole of each hand, covering all areas with soap before washing with water.
If hand washing is not practical, alcohol-based hand sanitiser is recommended. Hand sanitiser stations are available at the Auditorium entry door, Auditorium to Meeting Room door and on the stage.
Note that good hygiene practices include cleaning personal property that comes to church, such as sunglasses, mobile phones and other touch-screen items with disinfectant wipes or similar. Alcohol wipes are available at the hand sanitising stations.
For anyone who may require water during the service, small supply of commercially prepared water bottles are available near the front door.
Using electronic paperwork
For those conducting business on behalf of the church, use electronic paperwork where practical. For example, if a signature is required, discuss providing a confirmation email instead, or take a photo of the goods onsite as proof of delivery.
Avoid physical cash donations
Where possible, contactless payment methods for the offering is preferred. We appreciate however that this is not an option for some of our attendees. Accordingly, a collection basket is being put out at the end of the service so that people can leave cash on their way out of the service. Please use the nearby hand sanitiser immediately after handling cash. Those counting the offering should wear gloves and sanitise their hands immediately after removing the gloves.
Thank you all for your attention in these matters. These measures are about keeping ourselves and each other safe from COVID-19. A pleasant concluding thought is that adopting the Places of Worship Industry COVID Safe Industry plan allows more than 50 attendees on site. Before we can do that, we need to find COVID safe places to accommodate them. That is a pleasant task for the coming weeks.
I pray God’s richest blessings for you and His protection from ill health for you as we work our way through this COVID season.
Regards
Scott Bell Living Faith Church Council Secretary
Email: dingdong6015@gmail.com
