Mass During the COVID-19 Outbreak

[otjm]

The Archdiocese of Oregon has just granted a general dispensation, with three written pages to reflect upon, as the Governor has issued a (statement? decree?) that any meeting attended by over 250 people is to be cancelled (no clue as to whether that includes any criminal provisions - I suspect not).

Seattle archdiocese has cancelled Masses; Washington State has been hammered, in particular around the Seattle area; in one Life Care Center in Kirkland, outside Seattle, 15 residents have died, 6 residents are sick, and “dozens of its workers have fallen ill”. Some of the 15 went from no signs to dead in a matter of a few hours. 70 of its 180 workers appear to have contracted the virus with 3 of them hospitalized.

I think again, that you are letting yourself get carried away.

So Richard, by all means: Get Amazon to deliver your food and toilet paper to your home. Barricade yourself into your home like a prepper. Use up all of your hand sanitizer. Do whatever you feel you need to do to survive.

But stop telling everyone else they are irresponsible or selfish or ignorant for not joining you in your panic.

I would agree that no one should panic. I, too, intend to continue to attend Mass.

On the other hand, if one is elderly, and in particular not in good health, one might want to take more precautions than someone who is young and in great health.

Only 3 other people have died elsewhere in Washington. People are recovering from the virus around the world. The salient point is that the disease is very contagious and is spread exceedingly easily, it appears. there appear to be far more people who have contracted the virus in the Seattle area than there are in Portland, to the south; their bishop has cancelled Masses; ours has given a dispensation and suggested we make wise choices.

Considering that the majority of people who attend Mass are over 50, then as my high school principal used to say over the PS system “A word to the wise should be sufficient.”

 

[Anna4]

I was talking to a particular poster. Obviously you guys have your own views and your own free will to use. I don’t advocate a dampening of faith. Everyone is different. For some gathering at home or watching mass on TV or spending the day in prayer are spiritually nurturing. Much love brother

 

[ThomasMT]

I just wanted to let everyone know of my intention to not attend Mass again until this COVID-19 outbreak blows over to a satisfactory degree. I share this with you all here in order to encourage many of my fellow Catholics in the United States to do the same.

Ok…

As such, we should just do our due diligence now and stop going for a little while.

But please, for the sake of humanity, strongly consider what I am saying here, and do your part to help to stem the tide of this disease, starting THIS WEEKEND.

With all due respect, you do what you feel you must. I choose faith over fear, panic, and alarmism. And if “the sake of humanity” really is at stake, all the more reason to seek refuge with the Lord.

 

[Anna4]

I’m not… stocked up for 3 weeks! I got all the stuff I need at home even my own exercise equipment!

 

[Peaceable]

To be fair, some people are in places that are hard hit, and Richard’s points are right on for these areas. See comment about Oregon in another post.

In some places, quarantining is happening even for smaller scale meetings which are being canceled. Not sure how this will affect their local masses yet.

This is their reality, and they are having to prepare for this. It’s not unreasonable to try to preempt this or slow the spread in your local community even if you’re not as affected as other folks are.

The issue, as others have said, is that younger people can transmit this virus even if they have no symptoms…

 

[po18guy]

A few observations, late in the evening. I am much more likely to expire to the virus than probably anyone in this thread. I still go to mass. I still wear the same type of mask and gloves that I have worn since my stem cell transplant in 2015. Since other parishioners seem to think that I am radioactive, they keep their distance. Fine, I guess.

Back in my badge and gun days, we were taught “Preparation, not paranoia.” That served me well for 31 years. Unless someone is coughing or sneezing within a reasonably close distance, your greatest enemy is your hands. Since we cannot see the virus (1/10 the size of a bacterium and many times smaller than a human cell), we touch things which may be contaminated. Our eye itches - we scratch it. This is how thousands are infected: they essentially infect themselves.

Let your face or eyes itch, since studies have shown that we touch our faces 20 times per hour! As well, nitrile gloves in public: at the gas station when re-filling or touching the filthy touch pads, the ATM, shopping, checkstand, and anywhere else in public. Keep your distance from coughs and sneezes, as has become second nature for me. Spray or wipe down UPS/FedEx/Amazon packages and any parcel in the mail. Any pre-packaged item (electronics, etc.) that came from China since November ‘may’ carry the virus on their surfaces or contents, so a wipe with alcohol/Lysol cannot hurt. The virus may only live 3 days on surfaces, but that is a guess based on the similar SARS virus. No one actually knows.

80% of cases are mild and some have zero symptoms. How do you protect against that - either in others, or yourself? Death rates are low until you hit the 60s, then it spikes fairly rapidly.

In the big picture, I note that it is strange how, if we turn off the media hysteria and political blame game, the peace of Christ has a chance to return. I am not ready to go, exactly, but at this stage of life and knowing God’s infinite promise, I will be delighted to go.

Philippians 1:24 and following.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

I won’t be going anywhere unless I need to go out to get necessary food or supplies. I even have reservations about going to the grocery store, but obviously we need to be able to eat.

You are going to get sick of that pretty fast, I have been in an isolation for about 3 weeks now , it got much stricter a week or so ago. it is wiser to educate people who are at risk of having the virus to do the right thing and self isolate for the required time.

Afterall we dont want jobs and businesses to fold and economies to go under.

I share this with you all here in order to encourage many of my fellow Catholics in the United States to do the same.

please do not lead Catholics into scandal by telling them to miss Mass. That is not your place .It is the business of their Bishop.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

Italy has a mean age that is 10 years older than many other countries which is why it is being so drastically hit by this virus.
Italy also made the mistake of falling for ‘its just a flu’ trap, so sick people were out and about like they would be with flu.

There is also a lot of misinformation floating around about this virus.

One reason health authorities are seeking to prevent large gatherings like sports events, is to stop a huge upsurge at one time because there are not enough hospital respirators to go around if there was a huge upsurge from a single event. Authorities the globe over are trying to level out this demand a bit so there is enough resource as needed.

Masks dont really protect a person, full metal jacket outfit hazmat suits do, that is why health professionals dealing with corona virus patients wear them, the eyes must be covered.

 

[victrolatim]

My personal advice is use your own judgment and common sense, as with everything. I hope that my area will not have to deal with a suspension of Sunday masses, but I feel like in this day and age we take for granted how readily available the sacraments are. In ages past, and currently in some other countries, people go months without the Eucharist or a visiting priest.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

To be fair, some people are in places that are hard hit, and Richard’s points are right on for these areas. See comment about Oregon in another post

If I were in a “hard hit” area, it is likely that the bishop would cancel Mass. As a thinking adult, I also would be able to adjust my own behavior accordingly to risk levels, without a lecture from a random Internet person. It’s likely the public health officials would offer guidance as well.

 

[Annie]

The article Anna posted (https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca) gives really good information. It is thorough in its explanation of why social distancing is so important even before cases show up nearby.

It is precisely because symptoms show up so much later, if at all, than infection that preventative social distancing is important, especially in the US where there are so few testing kits available.

Continued

 

[Annie]

From this article, about a study done regarding the Spanish Flu:

The first study found a clear correlation between the number of interventions applied and the resulting peak death rate seen. Perhaps more importantly, both studies showed that while interventions effectively mitigated the transmission of influenza virus in 1918, a critical factor in how much death rates were reduced was how soon the measures were put in place.

Officials in St. Louis introduced a broad series of public health measures to contain the flu within two days of the first reported cases. Philadelphia, New Orleans and Boston all used similar interventions, but they took longer to implement them, and as a result, peak mortality rates were higher. In the most extreme disparity, the peak mortality rate in St. Louis was only one-eighth that of Philadelphia, the worst-hit city in the survey. In contrast to St. Louis, Philadelphia imposed bans on public gatherings more than two weeks after the first infections were reported. City officials even allowed a city-wide parade to take place prior to imposing their bans.

The article @Anna linked above shows how that works, with charts, etc., for those who are interested.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

There’s a difference between a “city wide parade” and 50 people at Mass.

Parades for St Patricks Day and other large events are being cancelled everywhere, and even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t go to a parade or similar size event. Mass draws a relatively small crowd as I mentioned above.

I’m curious to know why posters in this thread think we need education on social distancing, etc? There’s a difference between social distancing and home quarantine. As I said, my parents, aunts, uncles and grands lived through actual quarantine epidemics. People who were ill with serious communicable diseases were indeed quarantined. People who were well were not quarantined.

 

[Peaceable]

Because the issue is that community transmission can occur through patients who appear well or not that sick, and have no known exposure (due to lack of sufficient testing kits) and so this is different from quarantining in your grandparents’ era, when actively sick people were the typically the ones isolating.

Though, looking at the Wikipedia article on Oregon’s response to the Spanish flu, they may have restricted seemingly well people back then too, and shut down churches and businesses apart from grocery stores… with similar grumbling about this back then too. Some things don’t change, I guess.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m not going to put myself on home quarantine when the civil authorities haven’t ordered it and I have no reason to do so, such as symptoms, a positive test, travel to an affected area, exposure to a person who is or gets sick, etc. It’s extreme to expect people to just quarantine themselves for no reason.

 

[Annie]

50 people at Mass.

You say this as if it were the size of the average Sunday Mass, but for many people, Mass attendance is in the 100s, not tens. The least crowded Sunday Mass I attend has 30 people just in the choir! And 300 in the pews.

I’m curious to know why posters in this thread think we need education on social distancing, etc?

Maybe because not everyone knows everything? I am grateful to those who posted things I did not know, such as that hand sanitizer has to be 60% alcohol.

And many people who live in areas far from confirmed cases may feel safer than they actually are, due to the very long incubation time (14 days). In comparison, it seems that Spanish flu had an incubation period more like regular flu:1 to 4 days.

People who were ill with serious communicable diseases were indeed quarantined. People who were well were not quarantined.

And the incubation time of those diseases?

 

[bonnjer]

No one can be denied communion on the tongue, no matter what Cardinal Dew has issued.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I see that whatever I say in this thread is falling on deaf ears because some people have decided it’s their duty to tell everyone else to barricade themselves in their homes instead of “keep calm and carry on”. I have already responded enough in this thread and if people want to continue to argue and disrespect the reasonable personal decisions of others, I’m not adding to the pile.

I’ll be at Mass till there’s a good reason, as listed in my posts above, to not be there. Have a nice day.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

I encourage you to refine your verbiage, for in this thread, you are sharing:
“I won’t be going anywhere unless I need to go out to get necessary food or supplies. I even have reservations about going to the grocery store, but obviously we need to be able to eat.“
And…
“But, if we sacrifice Mass…”

For some, you will be interpreted as “what the grocery store has to offer is necessary for life, while what Mass has to offer is supplemental to life.”

No, the food at the grocery store cannot nourish you unless you actually have it and eat it, whereas Our Lord can dispense all of the graces we need to save our souls, even if we are lawfully or prudently impeded from receiving His sacraments in the usual fashion. You cannot “spiritually eat” a ham and cheese sandwich or a chicken leg while looking at a picture of it. You can make a spiritual communion while watching the Mass online or on TV (or even a video of a Mass already celebrated).

Faithful Catholics tend to take Mass attendance very seriously, and suggesting that you might choose to make a prudential judgment about not attending when neither the civil authorities nor the Church have made it impossible, is not going to be well-received by all. I basically agree with the OP, but not everyone will.

 

[Cruciferi]

Viral shedding is nothing new. It’s been confirmed for decades and probably suspected even longer. Overreacting and shutting everything down can have equally devastating effects on the populace.

The media is inducing mass panic. How about we all step back and keep a sense of proportion on this matter.