Ohio now requires masks at religious services in worst COVID counties

This is gonna go over like a lead balloon ....

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Everyone attending religious services in Ohio’s hardest-hit COVID counties must wear a mask except the “officiant,” under a new state health order issued Wednesday night.

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The new rule was contained in a single line of the 10-page order, which was issued Wednesday evening. It requires masks in counties with at least a Level 3, or “red” status on a rating scale for coronavirus infections. Franklin County and six others currently meet that threshold.

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The Centers for Disease Control has noted that singing can spread the coronavirus even beyond the six-foot standard distancing requirement, leading California to ban signing and chanting in religious gatherings.

The CDC reported that after a 2.5-hour choir practice early in Washington state’s pandemic attended by 61 persons — one of whom apparently had the virus — there were 32 confirmed and 20 probable COVID-19 cases. Three members were hospitalized, and two died.

Previously, DeWine had steered clear of issuing direct orders on religious groups because they are protected by the First Amendment.

Baer [president of Citizens for Community Values] said he think most churches will adhere to the new mask requirement as part of the Biblical instruction to submit to governing authorities except when they contract God’s word. But if Ohio would go California’s route and ban singing, that likely would face a constitutional legal challenge

“It’s not the role of government to try to regulate the way that we worship.”

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200709/ohio-now-requires-masks-at-religious-services-in-worst-covid-counties