June 20, 2020 UPDATE: We have been watching the number of new Coronavirus cases in Northwest Arkansas continue to rise this month. As I stated in the June 7th Update, “the criteria that we have set to return to indoor, in-person services is to have 14 days of plateau or diminishing number of new cases in our area.” As of June 12th, the number of new cases seemed to have leveled off compared to the meteoric rise of the previous three weeks. That trend continued over this past week… that is until today. Here is a chart showing the growth in Northwest Arkansas.
According to the updated numbers that are tracked by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Benton County had its highest daily total of new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours with 184 new cases. To be honest, my heart sunk when I saw that information. That was three times more than the seven-day rolling average from the day before! So I did a little more investigating.
According to a newscast from KFSM 5News, the extreme rise in new cases stemmed from an outbreak inside the Benton County Jail. According to the newscast, there are 164 inmates and 13 staff who have been infected with Covid-19. While we hate to hear this news, it is encouraging to realize that of the 184 new cases in the past 24 hours, 177 of those cases are connected to this congregant environment. We will continue to track these numbers in order to make an informed decision concerning the return to indoor, in-person worship services. Please keep us in your prayers, praying specifically for wisdom in these difficult times.
Plans for Reopening
As we look toward the possibility of reopening our facilities, there are many things that must be considered concerning health and sanitation guidelines. Some of the things that we are planning include: deep cleaning by a professional janitorial service each week, disinfecting all auditorium seating between Sunday morning worship services, wiping down all surfaces with disinfecting wipes between services, seating arrangement which allows for social distancing, health check upon entry, and utilization of personal protective equipment for all attendees.
We recognize that there are various opinions about PPE, but we believe it to be wise to err on the side of caution rather than comfort. We would encourage you to watch an explanation by the Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Health, Dr. Nate Smith, on the advantages of utilizing simple, cloth face coverings. He covers this issue in the first three minutes of this video. Here is that press conference from June 19th.
For now, we will be doing Drive-in Services through the end of June. The first possible date for indoor, in-person services will be July 5, but that is dependent upon the growth of new cases in the coming week.
2020 Graduates & Senior Roast
Most of our graduating seniors have missed out on many of the traditional festivities for seniors—some are not even going to be able to have an in-person graduation ceremony.
For this reason, we want to celebrate their accomplishment as a church family! Next Sunday, June 28th, we will set aside a portion of our worship services to honor our graduates and their families. We will give each of them an opportunity to “walk across the stage” as a way to commemorate their accomplishments.
We also want to take the opportunity to “roast” our seniors (as is our tradition here at Temple Rogers). Since we have not yet returned to indoor, in-person meetings, the Senior Roast will be held outside in the field on Sunday afternoon, at 4:00 pm, June 28th. Please look for more details from Pastor Derrick in the coming days! And please remember to pray for these young adults as they process this emotional time!
