Updates Regarding COVID and the CDC

Dear Friends,

You have probably heard that this week the CDC updated their guidance to recommend that even vaccinated individuals return to wearing masks indoors in areas where community transmission of COVID-19 is high, which includes Collin County.

The bishop has indicated that we will not be returning to mandated masks across the diocese, and we have no plans to modify rules and requirements at St. Andrew’s. Masks remain very welcome, but not required. What I do hope the CDC recommendation will do is encourage us all to continue to make wise decisions for ourselves and for the sake of others.

At St. Andrew’s, we have a high proportion of vaccinated adults. That said, we’re not invincible: I am already aware of at least one “breakthrough” infection in the congregation (to be clear, there was no exposure to others at St. Andrew’s). This Delta variant is serious. If you are high risk (unvaccinated, immunocompromised, too young to be vaccinated, etc.) or ministering with high risk individuals, please consider wearing a mask. And if you are vaccinated and want to wear a mask, great! By all means, do so!

Also, don’t forget that our 11 am worship service is live-streamed each week. The links are at the top of this email. That too is a good option. (And unless you’re watching it on an airplane, online worship doesn’t need a mask!)

I know we are all trying to juggle what’s best for ourselves and also what’s best for one another in this. One of the great gifts of our worship is that each Sunday we all come up to the altar as the one Body of Christ. We know, because of how we worship, how connected we are. We don’t need a virus to tell us that!

So, whether your smile is on the inside of a mask or not, let us be generous in the love and care we show one another.

In Christ,

Fr. Andrew