Summer Reopening Plans

by the WUU Reopening Task Force

Dear WUU Community,

We rejoice with you that, as local conditions and vaccination rates continue to improve, it’s time to start reopening our campus to in-person gatherings on Sunday mornings! As we move in that direction, we are taking great care to consider the different ways that each of you are responding to the pandemic, and want to make sure that we are creating a welcoming space for everyone. 

In this post, we’d like to share with you: 

We also invite you to a café conversation on Sunday, June 27 immediately following the worship service to share your thoughts and questions. 

Guiding Principles and Values 

Throughout the pandemic, WUU congregational leaders have been committed to following the science. What does this mean for us now that most vaccinated individuals are protected from serious illness due to Covid? 

In a recent blog post, our UUA Congregational Life Staff Group shared this advice to congregations: 

In May 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control released new interim guidance that surprised many congregational leaders and members. The guidance tells individuals that once they reach the two-week point after completing the COVID-19 vaccine, they do not need to wear masks in indoor places.

But the CDC’s guidance is about individuals. As congregations, our decisions about masking or un-masking need to be about community. We are in covenant with one another to act not just as a collection of individuals, but as a body that works for the good of all.

Because our Unitarian Universalist faith is grounded in values that call us to care about one another, we must continue to make our decisions by centering the needs of the most vulnerable among us:

The UUA strongly recommends that congregations maintain a culture of indoor masking when they regather in person. This is because of who we are, as congregations, at our best:

  • We are all-ages communities, and not all ages have been able to get vaccinated yet.
  • We are all-abilities communities, and some of us have immune systems that do not mount a strong protective response after the COVID vaccination and can suffer severe consequences upon infection.
  • We are all-inclusive communities, and we want to express our UU values by being able to include all, regardless of vaccination status.

Therefore for the near term, as part of our covenantal commitment to care for all, we encourage congregations to maintain a culture of masking while indoors regardless of vaccination status.

Here’s a handy graphic from the UUA’s blog post: 

Unitarian Universalist Association President Susan Frederick-Gray has also asked congregations to follow these Key Principles for Planning when interpreting the CDC guidelines for covenantal faith communities:

  • As a faith community, we root our decisions in the values of inclusion and consent.
  • Follow the science.
  • Go slow and be flexible.
  • Be humane and realistic with expectations of ourselves and others.

Congregational Survey Results

We also paid close attention to your responses to the reopening survey. Here are a few key takeaways from the 152 responses we received: 

  • 54% of you plan to participate on Sundays mostly in-person. Another 38% plan to stick with online participation some (33%) or most (5%) of the time. (The remaining 8% don’t plan to participate in worship very often.) 

  • When asked about the safety precautions that would need to be in place for you to feel comfortable participating in-person, these were your top responses:
    • Air purification (46% of respondents)
    • Hand sanitizer provided (44%)
    • Socially distanced seating (41%)
    • Limiting numbers of people in the building (29%)
    • Opening exterior doors and windows (29%)
    • Masks worn by all congregants (28%)
    • No congregational singing (23%)
  • The majority of families who responded are not comfortable with their children participating in indoor classes yet, regardless of safety precautions. About 90% are comfortable with outdoor classes, especially if staff and volunteer teachers are vaccinated. 

Summer at WUU

Based on the steady improvement in local public health metrics, the latest Executive Order from Governor Northam, recommendations from our UUA, your feedback, and the UU values we share, here’s what we’re planning for June and July:

Religious Education: Online and Outdoor Fun 

Online RE classes have been great for some WUU kids, and not so great for others. Over the summer, we’ll continue to offer online RE classes on Sunday mornings for those who want them. We’re also going to try something new, to help kids reconnect and get together safely: a monthly outdoor recess. Austen and Evan Varney will host these times for kids to be outdoors, distanced, masked, together and playing. Tentative dates over the summer are July 11 and August 15. Austen will share more details in our family email news blasts. 

Worship: A Gradual Reopening

Beginning July 11, you’re invited to come to the WUU sanctuary for “watch parties,” to watch the Zoom service in the company of other WUUs. 

Over the summer, services will continue to be Zoom-based, in the format we’ve all gotten used to. Most worship leaders will continue to participate primarily online to ensure a good experience for our online participants. Nursery care and childcare will not be available yet. 

Meanwhile, our worship and AV teams will be fine-tuning our new hybrid worship format behind the scenes, to ensure that we can offer a great experience to online and in-person congregants at once. By September, we look forward to fully launching our hybrid worship model, with most worship leaders participating from the sanctuary. 

One thing we don’t know yet: come September, how many worship services will we need, and when? Those decisions will be made over the summer. 

We will begin operating on Sunday mornings with the following safety protocols, which will be reviewed and updated as needed:

  • All in-person participants must remain masked at all times, with the following exceptions:
    • People may refrain from masking if it would be contrary to their safety because of a medical condition or disability. In that case, they will be required to socially distance from others.
    • Worship leaders may choose to remove their masks while speaking. 
  • Socially distanced seating will be provided upon request. Overflow seating in the Gathering Hall will be available if needed. 
  • All people under 18 must remain under the supervision of their guardians. The RE classrooms and nursery remain closed.
  • Based on Dr. Jamie’s study of safe singing practices, congregational hymn singing with masks will be permitted; choral and solo singing will come later. 
  • The Campus Improvement Team has concluded that our HVAC system already provides good ventilation when in use. Exterior doors will be open for additional ventilation. 
  • The order of service will be available online. 
  • Hymnals will be available for you to pick up; hymn lyrics will also be projected on screens or in the order of service. 
  • The offering will be received using text-to-give and online giving. 
  • Sunday morning social time will happen outside only. For now, we’ll keep it simple with no food or drinks provided, and masks will need to stay on. 
  • Wash hands and/or use hand sanitizer frequently.

We’ll continue to revisit these safety protocols and update them as conditions change. 

Guidelines for Other Gatherings

Our WUU Board has also asked Rev. Laura, Austen, and Jamie to develop safety guidelines for gatherings beyond Sunday mornings. Groups are now invited to meet in-person in accordance with the guidelines below. 

The latest UUA guidance states: “As part of our covenantal commitment to care for all, we encourage congregations to maintain a culture of masking while indoors regardless of vaccination status, and to take time to listen deeply to one another’s concerns and fears before making any decisions that might put members of the community at risk, either physically or mentally, with a continued practice of inclusion, covenant, consent, and care for each other.” 

Therefore:

  • Groups may meet inside or outside at WUU by reservation; contact Rachel McCabe at office@wuu.org to reserve your meeting space in advance. For now, only one group will be allowed to meet indoors at a time. 
  • For the time being, WUU groups are required to mask and provide options to socially distance indoors, unless all group members in attendance are vaccinated and agree to relax these requirements.  
  • Outdoors, WUU groups may choose to meet without masking and distancing if they wish. Organizers must communicate to participants in advance what the safety protocols for the gathering will be. Even if masking and distancing is not required, individual participants are encouraged to mask and distance if they wish. Unvaccinated participants are strongly encouraged to do so.
  • In order to protect our most vulnerable congregants, whenever children under 12 are present, either inside or outside, all participants must wear masks. 
  • Since not all congregants are able or willing to gather in person at this time, groups are strongly encouraged to provide an option for remote participation (e.g., by Zoom) whenever possible. Please contact Rachel McCabe if you need help setting up a Zoom meeting. 
  • Small groups may choose to establish a vaccination requirement as a condition of participation if their activities do not allow for masking (for example, shared meals). However, they are strongly encouraged to consider who might be excluded by this practice, and to develop ways to safely include unvaccinated/ immunocompromised participants whenever possible. 

These guidelines will be revised periodically as conditions change and will be posted on WUU’s COVID Response webpage. If you have any questions, please email reopening@wuu.org and/or join us at the café conversation on Sunday, June 27. We look forward to seeing many of you in person before too long!

With thanks,

Your WUU Reopening Task Force
Rev. Laura Horton-Ludwig, chair
Dr. Jamie Bartlett
Austen Petersen
Lola Warren
Dave Wilcox