Covid-19 Safety Protocols
All persons over the age of 12 attending in-person worship at St. Bart’s must show proof of vaccination. Masks are required for all, at all times. KN95 and N95 masks, or double masking with cloth and surgical masks are encouraged. Please allow for social distance between parties. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our whole community.
Please do not attend services in person if, at any time, you experience symptoms known to be associated with COVID-19 (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea) or have been exposed to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.
An exposure is defined as being within 6 feet of a person known to be infected with COVID-19 period for a cumulative period of 15 minutes or more, regardless of whether you are wearing a mask or not.
We ask that all who experience symptoms, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, receive a negative PCR test result before returning physically to St. Bart’s. For the safety of the wider community, we encourage all of our members to receive the vaccination as well as the booster.
Dear Friends,
St. Bartholomew’s Church in the City of New York has the benefit of having a team of doctors who advise me and the senior staff regarding our COVID-19 pandemic protocols. We have carefully followed their wise counsel and I believe we have made a series of sound decisions based upon their advice. Additionally, we follow the guidance offered by the New York City Department of Health and by the Centers for Disease Control. From the beginning of the pandemic, we have made the health and safety of this congregation our highest priority.
The Omicron variant is causing COVID-19 cases to rise in the City of New York and is proving to be a persistent form of the virus. We continue to monitor this situation carefully and our physicians strongly urge everyone who has been vaccinated to receive their booster shot as soon as possible. We will be asking everyone on our staff to receive a booster dose of the vaccine and we invite every member of the parish to do the same. We anticipate that being able to show proof of a booster shot will become necessary to attend in-person worship at St. Bart’s sometime in January. We will also be asking (sometime in late January) that children who are eligible to be vaccinated be able to show proof of vaccination in order to attend in-person worship.
Also, as more and more New Yorkers are exposed to the Omicron variant, we invite everyone who has experienced exposure to someone who has tested positive for the virus, or anyone who is awaiting a test result, to participate in online worship services from home. We will all need to work together in order to keep everyone as safe as possible.
I’d like to remind everyone that we make accommodations for those who have not been vaccinated to participate in online worship and to receive the Sacrament on the front terrace of the church at our 11:00 am Sunday service.
The psalmist wrote,
“I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:3)
May we be delivered from all our fears during this joyful Christmas season.
Faithfully,
The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe
Rector