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Good morning and welcome to our 20th COVID Communiqué. We have two pieces of good news for you this week. 

The first applies to the number of people who can—cautiously and safely—attend services at churches in our diocese. 

Effective October 1, 2020, parishes can seek permission to hold in-person Amber stage worship gatherings of more than 50 people, up to one-third of capacity, provided social distancing is possible. The total number must include the celebrant, musicians, sidespeople and anyone else assisting at the service. 

Please note that you must not increase capacity without permission—and be advised this won’t be an option for every church. If one-third of your church’s capacity is less than 50, the number of people who can be present won’t change. It could also be that numerically one-third of your capacity is 100 people, but the most you can admit while ensuring two metres distance in all directions would be 65; some churches may find space doesn’t allow them to increase seats. And remember, if your local or provincial authority sets a maximum lower than yours, the more conservative number must be followed. Knowing your local and regional guidelines is important not only because they differ across the diocese, they also change over time. For example, Quebec, which was permitting gatherings up to 250 people or 50 per cent of capacity, recently cut back to 50—and then just yesterday designated Gatineau as a “Code Orange” area, limiting services to 25 participants. 

Our decision to expand worship capacity may seem counter-intuitive, given the surge in COVID-19 cases. However, despite tightening up the number of people permitted at private gatherings, the Province of Ontario has not changed the limits for banquet halls, restaurants, cinemas and churches. That’s because it’s distinguishing between events where crowd size and safety measures are monitored by the people in charge, and gatherings of friends and families where no one insists rules be followed. Because we were initially very conservative and are monitoring safety closely, we are confident we can safely ease restrictions in Ontario. 

You don’t have to admit more people if you’re not ready to, but if you think increasing the number of worshippers at a service is something you would like to explore, or if you wish to obtain permission, send a note to C19helpdesk@ottawa.anglican.ca. 

Our second piece of good news concerns our diocesan Pandemic Assistance Plan (announced in April as a “jubilee”). It enabled parishes to withhold their financial obligations to our diocese for April and May. (Parishes that could afford to were encouraged to keep giving). 

We wanted to assure you that April and May’s Parish Fair Share payments, clergy and lay compensation and insurance payments will be covered. The bills of every parish across our diocese are being adjusted to reflect the savings and they’ll be mailed out shortly. As always, if you need more or different information, please get in touch at C19helpdesk@ottawa.anglican.ca. 

COVID Communiqué is produced by the senior staff:
Shane Parker, Bishop
Beth Bretzlaff, Dean
Linda Hill, Executive Archdeacon
Sanjay Grover, Director of Financial Ministry
Peter John Hobbs, Director of Community Ministries
Jane Scanlon, Director of Stewardship Development
Carol Sinclair, Director of Human Resources