The Very Rev Mike Keirle said that he had issued the recommendation for a reversion to online services in the light of an ‘exponential’ rise in Covid-19 infection rates. Having criticised the inconsistency in guidelines between licensed premises and churches in a States Assembly speech last month, Mr Keirle said he appreciated that the situation had changed.
‘The virus has gone up exponentially and is definitely in the community,’ he said. ‘We support the government in wanting to keep people safe, and are also mindful of the advice that over-70s should not gather indoors – our services attract all ages, but there is a significant proportion from that vulnerable category.’
Mr Keirle said the advice to churches was a ‘strong recommendation, not a directive’, and that the situation would be reviewed during the third week of December.
‘We will see where we are, and hope the numbers may have fallen, but realise that – even then – the maximum gathering size is likely to be no more than 20,’ he said.
Prior to this week’s government announcements, Jersey’s Catholic community had already taken the decision that all weekend services would be streamed online. However, Catholic churches will remain open for services on weekdays. Methodist churches have been asked to revisit their risk assessments and ‘make all necessary changes to keep one another safe’.
In a letter to members of her community, the Rev Dawn Saunders said churches should ‘close for a short time, or limit church gatherings to small groups, and remember that 20
is a limit, not a target’.
Following his speech to the Assembly on 24 November, Mr Keirle and other faith leaders met Health Minister Richard Renouf and officials from his department.
‘The main points we wanted to get across were a request that we be kept informed about further changes, especially in the run-up to Christmas, and the desire to have consistency of policy as we exit Covid, hopefully fairly early in 2021,’ he said.
