My church in Charlotte went six months without meeting in person when the coronavirus pandemic mushroomed. We resumed in-person services in mid-September, but with close restrictions to ensure health and safety—only 40 people in the building and 25 people outside, with masks required and seats spaced apart in order to maintain social distancing.
As heavy-handed as this may seem, recent developments at another church in Charlotte represent the other end of the spectrum. A recent multi-day event at a predominantly black megachurch near downtown has triggered the biggest coronavirus cluster in the city since the pandemic began.
A growing COVID-19 outbreak at a Charlotte church — the largest identified by Mecklenburg officials to date — has now left at least two people dead, Mecklenburg County officials said late Wednesday.
The caseload has grown significantly — jumping to 68 cases now — since county health officials first announced the outbreak late Saturday. That was nearly a week after the multi-day event that wrapped up Oct. 11 at the United House of Prayer for All People on Beatties Ford Road.
At least 1,000 people attended events at the church to mark its yearly “holy convocation” from October 4 through October 11. County commissioner and church member Vilma Leake told WBTV in Charlotte that the gathering wrapped up with a big gathering on the weekend of October 10-11.
It’s likely the number of cases will grow. County health officials are trying to reach 94 people who were in close contact with the 68 people confirmed to have caught the virus. They have alerted local health departments across North and South Carolina, as well as in Georgia, New Jersey and New York.
According to county deputy health director Raynard Washington, church officials have urged those who came to the event to get tested. The real question, though, is how anyone at that church thought it was a good idea to hold this gathering in the first place. Time and again, superspreaders have been traced to the doors of churches. Despite church leaders insisting that CDC guidelines are followed, health officials have said that this isn’t always the case. Indeed, they have urged church officials to stop holding gatherings, though church leaders haven’t indicated they’ll go along.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why church gatherings with 500 or more people are among the riskiest events in this pandemic. Indeed, several megachurches have called off meeting in person altogether for the rest of the year. Frankly, this church better have some really good lawyers. If anyone gets sick or dies and it can be traced to this church, they’d have grounds for one whopper of a lawsuit.
