After coronavirus infects Sacramento church, religious leaders restrict more services

Congregation B’nai Israel, the region’s largest synagogue, is canceling its community Passover seder and postponing b’nai mitzvah, the coming-of-age ceremonies for 13-year-olds.

The decision didn’t come easy. Young people spend months preparing for their b’nai mitzvah and relatives typically come from around the country; the ceremonies can draw as many as 200 people.

“We’re doing everything differently right now, without a doubt,” B’nai Israel Rabbi Mona Alfi said Tuesday. “Everything is going into virtual reality. We’re trying to do our part to make sure we’re keeping everyone healthy and safe.”

Throughout the region, religious institutions are canceling services and ceremonies, moving many of them online, as the coronavirus outbreak spreads in the region. Authorities have announced sweeping directives asking Sacramento County residents to stay at home, except for essential trips such as visiting a grocery store or doctor.

The need for isolation was made all the more clear this week with the death of a congregant and the spread of COVID-19 through a Sacramento church. The spread of the virus at the Faith Presbyterian Church in the Greenhaven neighborhood presented a number of looming questions for religious leaders to consider.

Funerals must be conducted. Rites of passage observed. Important holidays on the horizon, most notably Ramadan, Easter and Passover, celebrated. The thought of canceling these services or moving them online would be rare, if not unprecedented since the flu pandemic of 1918.

“We’ve never gone through anything like this,” said Waseem Bawa, chairman of Sacramento League of Associated Muslims Center Mosque. “There’s no playbook.”

Authorities announced this week that a Sacramento substitute teacher died from coronavirus Sunday. She had been active in the Greenhaven neighborhood church that now reports at least five members have tested positive for COVID-19. Other congregants are awaiting test results. The woman who died was a longtime teacher in Sacramento schools and a former youth choir instructor at the church on Florin Road.

State and federal health officials recently announced that all gatherings should be no larger than 10 people, part of a national call for people to stay home if at all possible to avoid spreading a disease that’s likely being passed widely through communities by people who may not yet know they’re infected.

Alfi said B’nai Israel would still hold funeral services, but only with groups of under 10 people and attendees spread at least six-feet apart.

“The respectful burial of someone is an essential service,” said Alfi, whose synagogue counts Mayor Darrell Steinberg as a member. His wife, Julie Steinberg, is the synagogue’s cantor.

Passover, the celebration of ancient Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt, is one of the most communal of Jewish holidays. The seder, a ceremonial dinner, can draw a dozen or more guests to a person’s home. Given the clampdown on gatherings of any size, area Jews are wondering if those plans will change.

“We normally have a pretty good crowd at our house,” said Steve Turltetaub, the board president of Mosaic Law Congregation. “It’s going to be hard this year … It’ll be a stark reminder of what’s going on.”

Churches respond to social distancing directives

At Bayside Church, another of the Sacramento region’s largest religious institutions that moved all services online last week, funerals also would be kept to under 10 people, said spokesman Mark Miller.

As for Easter, which is April 12, that’s still up in the air, he said.

“We are hopeful there may be an onsite option in three weeks (in time for Easter),” said Miller, whose weekly gatherings at seven church campuses normally would bring in up to 20,000 people. “But will have to keep a close eye on it, obviously.”

Randy Cheek, a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Sacramento said the prospect of no in-person Easter services “is really heartbreaking.” The church, located near the Capitol, traditionally holds confirmations and baptisms in conjunction with Easter as well.

Trinity moved its services online last Sunday, but Cheek said Easter is a day he looks forward to sharing with his religious community.

“It’s not going to be the same watching it on TV,” he said. “It’s like not going to Christmas service. It’s something where the whole family gets together.” The Cheeks had been planning on services at Trinity followed by Easter brunch at Il Fornaio.

Catholic churches in the Sacramento region also began shutting down in-person services for the region’s 1.3 million parishioners on Tuesday.

“With a heavy heart, conscious of the accelerating rates of coronavirus infection, also known as COVID-19, I am suspending the public celebration of Sunday and weekday Masses for the Diocese of Sacramento in California until further notice,” Bishop Jaime Soto announced on the Diocese’s website.

His announcement said parish churches will maintain the regular hours, especially on Sundays and “be open for private prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.”

Weddings and funerals “may be provided but should be limited to immediate family,” Soto said.

Sikh temples are suspending Sunday religious teachings and “common kitchens,” gatherings that can draw enormous crowds. “We eat all together, 200 to 500 people,” said Manjit Singh, director in Sacramento of United Sikhs, an umbrella organization.

Even the region’s faith healers are distancing themselves.

Bethel Church in Redding, whose members believe they can heal the sick and raise the dead, announced Tuesday that all of its programs were moving online, including classes for the 2,400 students enrolled at the Redding church’s School of Supernatural Ministry. The church has around 9,100 other members in Redding.

Ramadan coming in April

For the region’s Muslims, most area mosques have canceled in-person services for the time being or are limiting prayer gatherings to no more than 10 people, but it’s not clear what they plan to do for Ramadan, which begins April 23.

During the month-long observance, mosques hold Taraweeh prayers every night. Some Sacramento-area mosques have more than 1,000 attendees arrive for evening Ramadan prayers.

Bawa, the chairman of SALAM, said whether those would be held will be based on the latest guidelines from public health officials.

“As we get to Ramadan in April, we don’t know what the situation is going to be like,” said Bawa, who’s also a spokesman for the Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations, an umbrella group for more than 20 mosques in the Sacramento area.

Health officials say isolation will prove critical in the weeks ahead in order to prevent a surge of patients from overwhelming the state’s already overtaxed healthcare system, similar to what’s happened in Italy. There’s a real concern that area hospitals will run out of intensive care beds and ventilators, forcing doctors to make wrenching decisions about which patients to keep alive.

Healthy, younger people are much less likely to fall seriously ill and some may not even show symptoms if they contract the novel coronavirus. But the elderly and sick are at particular risk and have alarmingly high fatality rates. In China, about one in every six people over the age of 80 died after contracting the disease. Nearly one in four of the patients died at the Kirkland, Wash. nursing home that was the epicenter for the disease in the Pacific Northwest

Local Muslim leaders had those concerns in mind when they issued a joint statement last week on the Sacramento Valley chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations’ website that urged the faithful to consider the health of the community.

“This is about protecting the most vulnerable among us, including our elders and those who are immunocompromised or have pre-existing conditions,” the statement read. “We have to do everything in our power to prevent the further spread of this virus for the safety of our community as a whole.”

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