While the Diocese of Sioux City has not set a date for when public Masses will resume, church officials have released more information about the criteria they are using to determine when it is safe for services to resume. The diocese is waiting until 14-day downward trends in new COVID-19 cases, hospital bed and ventilator usage and daily reported deaths are observed. Parishes have been issued an eight-page instruction manual to follow once services resume. The instructions include guidance for the elderly and high-risk parishioners, pew spacing and markings, sanitary preparations, the mandatory wearing of facemasks and distribution of Holy Communion with physical distancing. The full document will be published in the May 21 edition of The Catholic Globe or can be found included below this story. Director of Pastoral Planning, Deacon Mark Prosser, says “The celebration of the Mass for the foreseeable future will have a modified look specific to adding precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our congregations and communities. We ask for patience, cooperation and prayer.”
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https://scdiocese.org/resuming-mass-protocols