Reopening Team Update

Q. When can we all meet, in-person and outdoors?
Q. When can our choirs rehearse outdoors?
A. We're looking at the end of this month.
Risk levels in San Diego are still "Severe," but we believe a drop, even down to "High," could be enough for us to meet outdoors safely. The team will meet on February 12 to make decisions about in-person outdoor services for late Feb. and early March. Our best guess about when the Omicron wave will pass its peak is anywhere between now and March 1.

​Down the road, a further risk-level drop to some fraction of "High" could be enough for us to okay meeting indoors, though we have no guess about that timeframe. We do know that waiting to reach "Medium" could be forever, so that's not our goal.

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We all have Covid fears, yet we're feeling impatient, a need to get on with things. The need to experience in-person gatherings ? to be more human again ? is different now, a more strongly felt need than at past checkpoints. We get this.

Please also know that those among us who are most at risk remain in our thoughts and concerns, and always will. At the same time, each person will have to decide for themselves how much risk they are personally willing to take as we resume our gatherings. So, it's very complex.

Being vaccinated and boosted is the best way you can avoid hospitalization and death due to any strain of Covid. We urge you to do your part, for yourself and those around you, as we look forward to meeting again. Once again, the end of the month is a hoped-for time for resuming some outdoor gatherings.
Zoom will continue to be an option for services and smaller meetings. The technical people are working on making Zoom sessions ever more interactive for greater participation.

Singing, especially masked and distanced, will of course resume outdoors before it's okay indoors. We're constantly checking local conditions in order to give a thumbs up as soon as possible. We know some other churches are going ahead of us, and this causes unhappy feelings. But please know that we are making progress, setting thresholds, watching the numbers. We are not standing still.

​Rev. Kathleen McTigue begins her Minister-in-Residence time with us on February 15, and her first day in the pulpit will be February 20. We hope to take advantage of this date and enjoy it fully. In accordance with current UUA guidelines, risk reduction will be our primary consideration going forward. And yes, we on the team feel everything you feel.