It’s been hard to ignore Coronavirus in the media this week. I, therefore, wanted to write a brief update for you all with a few thoughts on how we approach the subject as churches. This is not meant to alarm you, and will instead I hope set out some sensible precautions we can all take to minimise any risk of infection in our communities.
I am basing what I say in part on NHS guidance given to my children at school today, which included this poster which has been produced by the NHS for educational settings, but which I think is relevant to our church communities . It helpfully answers two key questions for us.
How likely am I to catch the virus?
- You can only catch the virus if you have been in close contact to a person who has the virus.
- The chance of being in contact with the virus is currently low in the UK. As of 28 February, there are only 19 confirmed cases in the UK. This means you’d have something like a one in 3-million chance of meeting a person in the street with the disease! As far as I know, there have been no cases of Coronavirus reported in Worcestershire.
How should I minimise the risk of spreading the virus?
- Don’t go to China, or any of the affected areas.
- If you need to cough or sneeze, catch it with a tissue, and bin it.
- Don’t share items that come into contact with your mouth, such as cups and bottles.
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water or a hand sanitiser. Try not to touch your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Much of this advice translates directly to our church context, however, it is worth now asking the specific question:
What does this mean for services of Holy Communion?
First, there’s no reason to panic!
Public Health England said on 25 February,
Whilst in places of worship, there is no need to avoid other worshipers who are well or to change normal faith practices – this includes taking wine from the communal chalice.”
There has never been a medically proven case of disease transmission via the communion cup. The Anglican Church of Canada has published a paper on this subject stating,
no episode of disease attributable to the common cup has ever been reported. Thus for the average communicant, it would seem that the risk of drinking from the common cup is probably less than the risk of air-borne infection in using a common building.”
Therefore, the Church of England has issued the following guidance: (and my comments on each point are included in red)
- Long-standing government advice has been that ‘In a pandemic, it makes good sense to take precautions to limit the spread of disease by not sharing common vessels for food and drink.’ HOWEVER, COVID-19 has NOT been declared a pandemic. (We should, therefore, continue meeting and proclaiming the Lord’s death until he returns – 1Corinthians 11:26! )
- Churches should already be following best-hygiene practices that include advising parishioners with coughs and sneezes to refrain from handshaking during The Peace and, to receive Communion in one kind only. (That is, to receive bread/wafer only, and not the wine).
- There is no Government advice that suggests the use of the Common Cup should be suspended.
- Churches should have hand-sanitizer available for parishioners to use. (I have bulk purchased these and will make them available in our churches when they arrive next week.)
- Priests presiding at the Eucharist, communion administrators and servers should wash their hands, preferably with an alcohol-based (minimum 60%) hand-sanitiser. (This is in addition to the practice of ritual hand washing that some priests include as they prepare communion.)
- Intinction (dipping the wafer in the wine) is not recommended (even by celebrants or communion-administrators) as this represents an infection transmission route as well as a risk to those with certain allergies. (It brings the hands into closer contact with the wine, and also risks wafer crumbs getting into the wine which can be a problem for those with gluten intolerance).
I believe that if we all follow these sensible guidelines, the risk of infection will be minimised, and in a year or so, we’ll look back upon Coronivirus as we do on Swine Flu – a nasty bug we managed to avoid with good infection control!
Barry Unwin
28 Feb 2020