I am faced with a difficult decision. The government has mandated today that indoor events of more than 100 be cancelled, including weddings, funerals and religious services. Except for Christmas Eve we never exceed that number. But one hundred is not a magic number. I am interpreting this mandate to mean if gatherings are not essential, it would be best to err on the side of caution and cancel them. While I think the precautions we instituted last Sunday were responsible, I would not want one member to become ill because we continued meeting. I would not like to think that because we met we were responsible for introducing the virus into the wider community.

I know some of you will be disappointed or even disagree about the risk, but I am suspending in-person worship beginning this Sunday. We are in the process of planning for online services, which we hope to have up and running very soon. In the meantime, wash your hands, self-isolate if possible, wash your hands, maintain social distance and wash your hands.

Be safe,
Clay

Dear members and friends of the Auckland Unitarian Church,

Yesterday (15th March 2020) our Management Committee met to consider how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is much more we don’t know than we do know about how the pandemic will play out in New Zealand. Thanks to what I consider strong leadership from the government to contain the virus, we have had only eight reports of infected individuals as of this morning. There is no indication of a community outbreak at this time. However, that does not mean things could not change rapidly as they have in other countries. Therefore, we should be vigilant and take every precaution not to spread the contagion and to protect our most vulnerable members. Part of that means being aware of government advice and applying it to our situation where appropriate.