[UUAA news] UUAA’s Updated Health & Safety Protocols

[UUAA’s COVID-19 Advisory Team]

UUAA’s COVID-19 Advisory Team  UUAA’s Updated Health & Safety Protocols for April-May 2022 From UUAA’s COVID-19 Advisory Team Dear Members & Friends of the UUAA Community, Greetings! We hope that you and your loved ones are well as our local season begins transitioning toward the greater warmth and beauty of spring. We, ourselves, are certainly beginning to feel the hope and possibility of spring, as we track and observe the Omicron variant of COVID-19 diminish significantly in Washtenaw County. At present, our local county public health metrics reflect significant enough improvement - the best that they have been since mid-2021 - that, in the absence of some new variant or other unknowns, our Team has recommended a gradual process of easing COVID-19 related health and safety restrictions at UUAA, effective April 1, 2022. The full, revised pandemic health and safety policies can be accessed here. A summary of these updates is provided below. Effective April 1, 2022: UUAA will maintain its covenantal expectation that all eligible congregants are fully vaccinated (including booster shots) for in-person participation in UUAA activities, Sunday services, and Spiritual Growth and Development (SGD) programming. UUAA will maintain universal masking indoors; masking outdoors on UUAA’s grounds will be optional. Communal singing (hymns, etc.) will resume in our Sunday services, with masks on. UUAA will resume serving refreshments (coffee, donuts, etc.) indoors in the Social Hall, following our Sunday services, as well as snacks in the SGD classrooms. Masks may be temporarily removed for the consumption of food and/or beverages, in the Social Hall and SGD classrooms only. When congregants are not actively eating or drinking in these designated spaces, masks must be worn. As weather permits, UUAA hopes to make the outdoor patio area, adjacent to the Social Hall, available once again for the consumption of refreshments outdoors and for socializing. UUAA will resume the passing of offertory baskets in our Sunday services. Roped off/blocked off seating in the Sanctuary will be eliminated. In-person Sunday service participants are invited to choose their own seating based on the level of physical distancing that they prefer. UUAA’s 50% capacity limit in the Sanctuary will be maintained. UUAA will maintain mandatory COVID-19 antigen testing for all Sunday service participants who will appear before the community unmasked. UUAA will maintain its commitment to multi-modal access to our Sunday services, and other critical programs and activities, as congregants continue choosing the mode of interaction that works best for them and their family. As noted, if a new COVID-19 variant of significant concern emerges, or our local public health metrics begin moving strongly in the wrong direction, UUAA will nimbly reinstate any appropriate and necessary public health-based restrictions, including the reinstatement of restrictions that we are currently easing. Our Advisory Team is delighted that our local public health situation continues to improve. In parallel with that, our Team will continue to monitor our local health metrics closely. Our Team will be meeting again in mid-April to assess the implementation of the changes contained herein, and to assess what additional or subsequent revisions in policy may be warranted. Please note, as our local public health circumstances improve, UUAA has begun receiving more requests for on-site committee, activity, and other in-person room or event reservations. However, the reality is that UUAA does not currently have the staff dollars to provide the kind of pre-pandemic ‘turn key’ service that we used to, in which only a room reservation was needed, and a group could simply arrive, hold their meeting/activity/event, and then leave. Out of necessity, recognized UUAA groups will need to be responsible for all aspects of their in-person meeting/activity/event, including building open/close, room set-up, room cleanliness (both pre- and post-activity), and the implementation of current UUAA COVID-19 health and safety requirements. UUAA is in the midst of updating our building policies and procedures to reflect this approach. We hope to also develop, over the next two months, written guidance for group/activity/event leaders, that will support them in undertaking these tasks. We thank you for being an important part of our UUAA family, and send you much care and joy as our nation begins easing its way back into more familiar patterns of day-to-day life. As always, our team can be contacted, regarding any feedback or questions you may have, by writing to: covidteam at uuaa.org. The members of UUAA's COVID-19 Advisory Team are Jim Lee, Jim Marks, Tom Reischl, Laura Bauman, Cassandra Hartley, Carter Smith, and Manish Mishra-Marzetti. First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor | 4001 Ann Arbor-Saline Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Unsubscribe news3 at uuaa.org Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by covidteam at uuaa.org powered by Try email marketing for free today!
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