Safety

We are wearing face masks when inside church buildings. Worshipers began wearing masks again on Sunday, August 1, in response to rising COVID-19 cases in Manatee County, and a letter from Peace river Presbytery.

In worship services, seating is marked for social-distancing, and attendees are asked to sign a card placed in their seating area so contact tracing can be performed. Singing is by soloists only. Communion is served in individual sealed packages pre-placed in seating areas. If you or someone close to you has symptoms of a bad cold or flu, please get tested and stay isolated.

Delta

Vaccination provides good protection against serious illness and death due to the Delta variant. The unvaccinated are at very high risk of becoming sick with Delta. If you are unvaccinated, please get vaccinated to protect yourself and our community.

Manatee County Conditions - September 17

Cases. Cases have decreased recently but remain very high. There were 216 new cases in the week ending September 17, down from a peak of 498 on August 27. In the January surge, the peak number of cases per week was 278.

Positivity. The percentage of COVID-19 tests that are positive is very high, indicating that not enough testing is being done and cases are significantly undercounted. In the week ending September 17, 12.8% of tests were positive in Manatee, down from 15.9% the week before. Statewide positivity has dropped more rapidly, to 11.2% on September 17.

Vaccination. As of September 17, 58% ages 12 and up were fully vaccinated in Manatee compared with 64% nationwide, and 79% of seniors were fully vaccinated. There was no change in the percent vaccinated in Manatee County since September 10..