Discover the practical guide to securing places of worship against COVID-19
Following the Covid-19 epidemic, the life of the local church in France has seen a lot of upheaval and must now adapt to new practices to keep everyone safe.
By now, you have surely equipped and furnished your place of worship to respect hygiene and social distancing measures. However, as the epidemic is still changing, it is best to constantly monitor the efficiency of the equipment used.
Everything for the Church, which provides stop-covid solutions adapted to places of worship, presents a guide to securing participants in the preparations for worship.
1. Examine the reception capacity of your place of worship
The latest government announcements in France have defined the reception capacity according to the number of seats available, namely: one seat in 3, one row in 2.
Depending on the number of worshipers, you can judge whether or not to increase worship services.
If necessary, you will need to organize the hospitality protocol so that the faithful do not all attend the same meeting.
There are several ways to do this:
- Set up an online booking or ticketing system
- Set up a phone line or Whatsapp number to register
- Choose a person (s) responsible for contacting church members to confirm attendance
If the church is filled to the authorized capacity, no further entry will be allowed.
In addition to placement measures that reduce access to places of worship, restrictions such as curfews also prevent some weekly meetings from taking place.
This is why the use of digital tools is now essential to keep a direct link with the members of the church , Everything for the Church supports you in this digital transition thanks to sound Pack Streaming: a complete professional video broadcasting system.
2. Manage arrivals in your place of worship
It is customary for church members to arrive at the same times . To ensure compliance with the required health and safety rules, it is necessary to enforce a strict protocol:
- In addition to wearing the mask, make sure that each person washes their hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Exchanges of handshakes or kisses are prohibited.
- On arrival at the church, it is recommended to keep 1 meter distance at all times, except for members of the same family.
- Seating positions should be marked in such a way as to facilitate "distancing". Members of the same family can sit together, if they live together.
- Strongly encourage those 65 years of age or older and anyone else at risk to participate in online worship. Otherwise, designate an area inside your place of worship reserved for people at risk.
- If you want to be more forward-looking, your arrival at the service can be noted in a loose-leaf file. This measure is only necessary to facilitate the tracing of contact cases. After 14 days, the list of names and addresses will be destroyed.
To facilitate the work of those in charge of hospitality within churches, Everything for the Church provides products that meet the required measures: automatic contactless gel dispenser , orientation sticker, box of masks…
3 Making it easier to follow the rules during worship
So that during worship, the sanitary protocol is respected, here are some tips:
- Start the service by recalling the health protection measures
- Prefer the display of the sung lyrics on a screen rather than distributed sheets
- If possible, use wireless microphones for different speakers
- Depending on the width of your stage, consider reducing the number of people from the musical group usually on duty
- During the sacrament, it is recommended that those in charge of distribution disinfect their hands with an alcohol-based liquid, wear a mask, and avoid hand contact with church members
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- For the offerings, you can have a basket in which everyone will place their envelope
- For Sunday school, it is recommended to follow the same protocol required in schools or daycares
- At the end of the service, encourage the faithful not to linger too long in the place of worship
For all these security measures to be more effective, clean your place of worship before and after each service : disinfection of surfaces, ventilation of rooms, etc.
In addition, stay informed of the evolution of the health situation to take adequate measures and thus protect the health of all.
The Everything for the Church team is at your service for any advice and information request.
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