June 27, 2020 UPDATE: Once again, the numbers for this area have spiked on Friday (see chart below). Last week, the Governor and Secretary of Health noted the increase for successive Fridays and questioned if it was caused by “bad behavior” on the weekends, because the normal incubation period is 5-6 days.
This is the same chart as we have looked at before with one addition–the “Trendline” has been added to help us see the daily average more clearly. As you can see, it looked as if we had plateaued as of June 15th, but the number of new cases began to rise again over the past four days. We will wait to hear more about the sources of these cases on Monday.
According to local news reports from KNWA and the Democrat-Gazette, The Waters nursing facility (just 1/2 mile north of the church) had an outbreak this week with 23 staff and 19 residents testing positive for Covid-19. Please pray for these folks!
As we consider the timing of moving back to indoor, in-person worship services, we are trying navigate the balance between caution and comfort. One of our big questions is whether we include numbers from Washington County or focus solely on what is happening in Benton County. The vast majority of our church membership lives in Benton County, but as you well know, the dividing line between the two counties is obscured when considering the amount of traffic on I-49. Again, we ask for your prayers for us as we make decisions concerning these things.
Tomorrow, July 28th, we will be worshiping once again via online streaming and drive-in services in the field. We will begin at 9:30 am. A public announcement concerning July 5th services will be made by July 1st.