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I know a couple churches locally that are discouraging shaking hands, but that is the only thing I have noticed.Do you consider it more serious than the FLU? I did not at first, but I am leaning to very serious.... YOU? Is it Media Hype? That worries me. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

According to information I've gotten from places like the CDC, the reaction to the coronavirus is a media caused frenzy. We have something like this most every year, and someone starts crying the sky is falling. This being an election year, we are falling subject to the politicizing of actions and reactions in our country. Research shows that the flu has a death rate of 1 per 100, and coronavirus a death rate of 2 per 100. Flu infections worldwide range in the 40-50 million cases with deaths in the 40-60 thousand annually. But we don't panic over flu season. We take caution without spreading mass fear. Thats our response. Hand sanitizer, recommending minimal touch for those nervous about the situation, and go on with church as usual.

We just installed 10 hand sanitizer stations in the lobby, kids and students. We won't mention anything in service.That being said, I refuse to touch my face with my hands after service until I get a chance to wash my hands. A lot of people have been doing that forever. The COG way of saying that is, I've got to go wash the fellowship off my hands.

One thing about this virus is it can be spread by pets and other animals. I am not sure about the flu.I'm not sure myself it it is a 'Sky is falling down' thing or not but I am washing my hands more. LOL Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

But we have mentioned the virus in our services with the understanding that the 91st psalm is a good thing to pray over your families and yourself and to not get caught up in fear or a media driven frenzy. Be prepared, wash your hands, cover your cough and if you're truly sick get help. But, Perfect love casts out all fear and if you are walking in fear there is no room for faith to operate. Ps 107:6

JImmy Fallon said the other night - - it's getting so bad even the guys are washing their hands after they use the restroom!!! Pastor Mike IPHC Pastor

I have been following COVID-19 pretty carefully because the global nature of it has an effect on the strategy of the missions organization I serve. I do not want to become known as the American missions agency that brought COVID-19 to a country where it was not previously found. Here are some points to consider:Based on this information, the risk at different churches will vary dramatically based on the demographics of the church.Symptoms do not appear for 2-14 days, but you can still be infecting others before symptoms appear. Not everyone who catches COVID-19 shows symptoms of the virus. However, asymptomatic carriers can still infect others.Coughs and sneezes can travel several feet and stay suspended in the air for up to 10 minutes.For us, this means that our missions team members could become infected with COVID-19 in the States and not show any symptoms until the last day of the short-term mission. If our infected team member develops symptoms that require the highest level of medical attention necessary for COVID-19 while we are in another country, that could be a serious hurdle (depending on the country in which we are ministering and whether we are ministering in a city or a village) and could seriously hinder travel back to the States on the planned schedule.Thankfully, this isn't a problem for the local church. However, one only needs to look at how the disease has spread in South Koreato see the kind of negative press a church in the United States could get for a similar type of outbreak. While I agree that the statistics that 4thgeneration has shared are correct, it is clear from the South Korea incident that COVID-19 is highly contagious because it can be spread by those who do not even know that they have it yet or who do not know that they have it because they are low-responders or totally asymptomatic responders. Further, if yours is a church with a large population of those who are 50-years-old and higher and COVID-19 sweeps through your church, your risk of losing more than 2% of your congregation is much higher (see the link in my first bullet point above). I believe the church has a responsibility to protect the reputation of the body of Christ, and a large outbreak that is linked to a church could create a major backlash. Further, consider how you might feel if the elder sheep in the flock which God has entrusted to you become ill and 14.8%, 8%, or even 3.6% of them die because you did not ask the younger, lower-risk sheep to stay home for a few weeks if they show symptoms that indicate they may be carriers.I like how brotherjames's church has handled it. I would add a little more.

I like your thinking. That is exactly what we are communicating. We do livestream on 3 platforms (vimeo, youtube and facebook) as well as using the YouTube stream on our app. We would rather have everyone in church but as long as we have enough people to do ministry we will do so. If the day comes for a temporary time where we cannot hold a public meeting due to not enough workers or local quarantine, we plan to do a live blog from the pastor.Back in the 70's Demos Shakarian held a Full Gospel Busness Meeting in Washington DC. 2 speakers (one was Harold Bredesan cant remember the other) recounted a dream they both had that was exactly the same for each of them. (I was a young man then.) Part of the dream was that they saw sick and dying people lying on mats in hospitals and on the ground outside the hospitals in cities all over the world and America. Then they saw people walking among the sick, laying hands on the people and the people were being healed as they arose from their mats and walked off. May it be so now. It is time for the church to walk in the Power of His Spirit and manifest His healing virtue and Jesus' love wherever we go. What an opportunity to share the Word of Grace to a hurting, confused anxious world and see Jesus confirm the Word with signs following.

I thought it was a good idea to update this post, pointing out that the death rate for flu is 1 per

Released this afternoon