Did you know?
Church services in Contra Costa County can resume with no more than 12 people inside, and 100 people outside.
A record of attendance, including the names and contact information for each attendee at a service or ceremony, must be created and preserved by the Place of Worship for a minimum of 14 days, and provided to Contra Costa Health Services immediately upon request in the event that a COVID-19 case is linked to the event, according to the health department.
A small group that mostly know each other must do this, but huge protests of people mostly not knowing each other are exempt?
You’re right Sam. These protests should have a sign in sheet. We could have the police pass a clip board around for each to sign. Let’s leave one on the buildings for the looters also.
What seems highly questionable is the specification to churches – but not to other gatherings?
I don’t know if this is so awful if it is applied across the board. Feels intrusive, but there is some rationale to making larger gatherings more easily traceable in case of a spreading event. But it isn’t going to fly to apply it *only* to churches and not to other gatherings of comparable size and/or duration.
The link to heath dept statement was posted in other comments. The reason for the list is contact tracing. The risk is much lower for a small group where already have the majority of contacts than protests. I’m fine with peaceful protests, just concerned that cannot easily contact trace from those events..
😆 yeah, isn’t that funny! What will they do if we just start meeting again? I can promise it will be mild, loving and spiritual. 😉
And they’re going to require this for all mosques too, right?
Don’t bother answering, we know they won’t.
Yes, mosques, too.
Read the heading; PLACES OF WORSHIP.
Why would you assume they wouldn’t require it form mosques too? It says places of worship.
Right!
It is time for pastors and preachers to say no more, carry on as you see fit, and tell the government to pound sand.
Defund the Health Department!
Agreed! Let them try and stop us! Let’s see if they arrest millions of people of faith.
It’s already happening.
Unconstitutional now they want to start censoring the Christians tracking us so I’ll assign people wake up. It’s funny they’re not doing that at Walmart Safeway wonder if they’re going to do that for the bars and sports venues
yeah good question
what about mosques
and or cults
It is none of government’s business to know who attends or participates at a place of worship.
I don’t recall all the looters and others signing in. Did they register their names and numbers?
This has gone way too far. Boycott the sign in
I think it’s time we not only defund the Democrats but also vote them out of office completely if they have their way they would completely do away with the Constitution. They are the tyrants
This Is how they will keep our country shut down. It will happen in the schools and places of business once they open. As soon as someone or if they have been around someone that contracted covid-19 the schools and businesses will shut down, again. But large groups of protesters are encouraged by liberal Hollywood, liberal politicians, liberal schools and the liberal social media. Two weeks now of protesting. Welcome to the United States of Socialism.
Wake up! This is not about a virus!
Nothing to debate…All you Claycord Democrat’s reap what you sow.
EXACTLY 👍
…just look at it!
Isn’t it strange grocery stores, Post Office, hardware stores and gas stations don’t demand your name.
IF they are so concerned why weren’t they out demanding names of demonstrators during recent marches to downtown Clayton.
Is this a slap to our neighbors who dare to demonstrate their faith? What’s next license plate readers at entrances to church parking lots?
Oh my gosh don’t give them any ideas!!
Unfortunately, any of the places we’ve shopped at and paid for items using a card they’ve already been tracing us. You would have to leave your phone at home and pay with cash if you don’t want to be traced.
Are they requiring this list be maintained at the demonstrations and riots? Wake up guys. Stop thinking about everything through a Red or Blue political lens. I am not even remotely a religious person either. Some of the contradictory, hypocritical things the government is doing, should be concerning everyone right now. This kind of logic is going to eventually hurt all of us, even if it doesn’t directly effect you yet.
yyyeah that’s good public health work, but that’s not freedom of association, freedom of assembly, or freedom of religion. This is similar to saying you can check out any book you want from the library, but the government will keep a record. I don’t agree with most of what is called religion, but that’s not the point. A mandatory registering on a government roster before you go to church is a complete shutdown of religious freedom. The tracking of church goers may indeed save lives, but some things are worth dying over. The freedom to worship anonymously is one of those things. And I’m not religious.
Thank you for speaking up for people who practice a religion. Your library book analogy is great. Indeed this tracking thing is going way too far.
Don’t worry. This has happened in the past. I believe Nazi Germany did this before WWII. Nothing to worry about.
Yep
Heart-broken over this, have been keeping to the rules, sheltering place, waiting for churches to re-open, and now have to register? Church attendees are the only group subject to this. Feel that is it completely unconstitutional,and politically motivated.
So, I do not have to give my name when I go to the store, but I have to give my name to go to church?
Claycord: Where is this ‘law’ recorded? I would like to see it, laugh at it, not follow it, but also share it with folks.
I just found it …
https://813dcad3-2b07-4f3f-a25e-23c48c566922.filesusr.com/ugd/84606e_58ab124d094a4ded96c0f5aeff0f12a5.pdf
Seriously? So they are going to track who comes to church? Track who is where? They are trying to force contact tracing … screw them. Wonder if I can give them the fools Faranitano name and the county health department number in lieu of mine.
👍
and the scam is yet again revealed by democrat ignorance and arrogance
this is the same democrat county health agency that gave coitus instructions during covid lockdown
now they censure the American church with outrageous hurdles that non other have to follow
the anti America brigade is in full swing and NO you are not safe
if the clergy are being attacked ….then this is not free America ….its a take over and abuse of power and a sign of the regime taking control over your families
and yes the best part is you more than likely voted for democrats to rule you …so don’t look to your free neighbors for help ….sorry you shunned them and spited them with foolish votes to take away freedoms and now its on us …..
fir shame ill informed voters for voting what you were told to by your employer or friends …..a vote is not a following it is your right to do the right thing for your country and your families future ….
you were easily manipulated and feel for every scam they threw at you
this is such a sad day for America as this state declares socialism war on the rest of the country with the first shot at separation of church and state
sip demorats and voters ……you have unleashed the Antifa on amercian civil liberties
I hope your proud ….well but of course you are …..
this should be a wake up call
probably not after all you followed the insanity this far
god save America
or does he have to sign in first
and give it to the CCC democratic health scam brigade first …..
Or what?
What is the legal ramifications of not keeping a list and not turning it over to the government?
What are the legal ramifications of the parishioners refusing to provide a name and/or contact information? What are the ramifications of the parishioners who giving a false name and/or contact information?
Does this apply to Elks, Moose, Masons, Soroptimist, union meeting or other similar groups or social clubs? How about membership clubs like Sams Club or Costco?
Setting a maximum number either inside or outside without taking the size of the building and/or the property into consideration seems to me to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.
I just called the county Covid hotline regarding this issue. This was my experience:
The first person who answered said that Dr Farnitano couldn’t come to the phone because he was seeing patients. I asked for an explanation and was hung up on.
I called again. A different person answered and said that they were not allowed to give out either the number or email of Dr Farnitano. But that I could look it up on Google. After some prodding, he transfered me to a call center supervisor.
The call center supervisor was nice and showed considerable patience with my frustration. Her argument seemed to be that the list of church attendees would only be required in the case of an “outbreak”.
My argument was that if there is no formal definition of what an “outbreak” is, then the government would be allowed to collect data at their whim.
Is an “outbreak” one person? Two? What if someone is infected at the church on the same block or a sister church? What if people only report symptoms but don’t get tested? Is that an outbreak?
Also, I asked why the public was not able to access these officials. If 100 can gather outside, why can’t they address their public face to face?
Neither the call center supervisor, nor I was sure if Dr Farnitano was even an elected official.
But she said that she would relay my comments at this afternoon’s meeting with the committee. And that as a local church attendee herself, she had concerns and had received many calls in a similar vein.
While I was glad to talk to someone without a script in front of them, it was small solace. Our democracy has apparently withered into a Kafkaesque chain of officed bureaucrats
Choir: The church choir in Washington State. Even though people were aware of the virus and took steps to minimize transfer; e.g. they avoided the usual handshakes and hugs hello, people also brought their own music to avoid sharing, and socially distanced themselves during practice. A single asymptomatic carrier infected most of the people in attendance. The choir sang for 2 1/2 hours, inside an enclosed church which was roughly the size of a volleyball court.
Singing, to a greater degree than talking, aerosolizes respiratory droplets extraordinarily well. Deep-breathing while singing facilitated those respiratory droplets getting deep into the lungs. Two and half hours of exposure ensured that people were exposed to enough virus over a long enough period of time for infection to take place. Over a period of 4 days, 45 of the 60 choir members developed symptoms, 2 died. The youngest infected was 31, but they averaged 67 years old.
Worship ceremonies can be conducted without singing. I’m sure churches would be willing to comply with that for now if they would just let us attend services. If schools and swimming pools are going to reopen and people can be in large crowds in stores or at protests, then they can be in places of worship too.
Might want to reconsider based on the new WHO report from Monday: It is an interesting read.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/asymptomatic-coronavirus-patients-arent-spreading-new-infections-who-says.html
In short, they said patients without symptoms are not spreading the virus. “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said at a news briefing from the United Nations agency’s Geneva headquarters. “It’s very rare.”
If asymptomatic spread proves to not be a main driver of coronavirus transmission, the policy implications could be tremendous. A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on April 1 cited the “potential for presymptomatic transmission” as a reason for the importance of social distancing.
This is completely unconstitutional and a direct attack on our freedoms to worship. No one else has to sign in anywhere! If people can social distance at a store, then they can more than easily do the same in a place of worship. My church, for example, has pews that can easily seat people at more than 6 feet apart, and we can do so with far more than only 12 people inside. We don’t even touch anything while we’re in there. The songs and readings are projected on the wall. At a store, people touch and put back items on the shelves all the time, including fresh fruits and vegetables, but that is okay. It is only unacceptable to be in a church and sit on a pew more than 6 feet apart without touching a thing! I am tired of the inequalities that our leaders place on us with each passing day.
This is not about a virus anymore, and probably never was. This is about taking away our rights. They are 100 percent following in the footsteps of the Nazis, who collected names of members who attended synagogues. We all know how that ended.
No one is denying you to worship. It amazes me that to be a good christian you have to do it in a building and have someone remind you weekly what it is you should do. It should be a way of life you live daily.
Ozzie, that’s like saying that you can be a good citizen without going to rallies and protests (true), and much of being a good citizen happens at home (true), therefore abridging freedom of speech and assembly is no big deal (false).
@Ozzie That’s not the point. Unless you attend worship, I’m sure you have no idea of what it does for the spirit, or what it means in the life of those who worship. Gathering to worship together strengthens ones faith and provides fellowship in God. It is vital for the faithful. This sort of restriction and “list keeping” is wrong. I don’t care why they are asking for it. It is persecution of those who worship. It has been going on for centuries.
Have any of the so-called county medical experts ever read the US Constitution? Especially the First Amendment, where it says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
What part of “prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” do they not understand?
In simple terms it means, every American has the right to practice their religion freely, without government interference or persecution.
@ Dawg
Within reason.
For extreme examples of what if. I assume you would not support in the name of religious freedoms; sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, human sacrifice, medieval inquisitions or jihad as practiced by extremists?
There are limits to the Bill of Rights. The question is are those limits reasonable or are they arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law?
OHMYGosh, . . . . what are they not telling us ? ? ? ?
Does being religious make you more susceptible to CV-19 ? ?
Seem to remember something about small wooden ships crossing the Atlantic and something about escaping authoritative infringements on exercising of religious beliefs.
Name Pilgrims, comes to mind.
Welcome to DEM-o-fornia !
Is this merely another case of knee jerk liberals NOT thinking a decision all the way thru ? Or is problem all those extra letters after their names on their business cards, making them SLOW witted . . . . .
Actually now that i think about it, i can’t wait until they start doing this!! They will be amazed at who visits our little church!!! George Soros, Bill Gates, maybe the Trumps might pay us a visit
“Stunning new development in Contra Costa church outbreak
Concord, CA. County health officials have revealed a startling new turn in their investigation of a recent Covid-19 outbreak related to a church gathering. County disease detectives discovered, on perusing the mandated roster of attendees, that every single participant in that’s day’s worship had the same name: Dr. Chris Farnitano. County officials are baffled.
‘We had no idea the name was so common, but we are proud of the number of doctors in our community. It shows how important education is for a healthy society,’ commented County Supervisor Candance Anderson. ‘I would like to think of this as an opportunity rather than a problem. With our can-do spirit we can build community among all County residents, including the truly astounding number of them named Chris Farnitano. Excuse me, DR. Chris Farnitano.’
Claycord News reporters tried to reach out to demographers and name experts at local universities, but upon explaining the situation the respondents started laughing too hard to clarify whether they were speaking on the record or not.
As of this writing Dr. Chris Farnitano of CC Health Services was unavailable for comment, though it is hoped that he will explain whether he is related to the thousands of other Dr. Chris Farnitanos living in the county, at his next helpful “public health Q&A” on Facebook Live, where he is expected to announce that outdoor long-distance silent yodeling competitions will, if all goes well, open by July 5, thanks to the hard work and cheerful sacrifice of County residents. CC Health declined to quash or confirm rumors that solitary mountaintop mime training might be allowed by August.”
I just sent an email to the District Attorneys office. Perhaps it will get read? Maybe they will go across the street and explain this First Amendment right to the County Health folks?
@Ozzie … We ARE being denied to worship unless it is in groups of 12 or less and unless we sign in with our names and contact information. Are you willing to sign in every time you go to a store, or participate in a protest, or ride BART, or swim in a pool? Well, even if you were okay with it, you don’t have to worry because people aren’t traced in those places! Why is this only mandatory for places of worship? I read the full document and I didn’t see any other rules like this for any other groups. For restaurants, the rule is that no more than 6 people can eat at the same outdoor table, and they all have to be from the same household. There was nothing mentioned about checking to see if people are truly from the same household, and no mention of registering people’s names and contact information as they sit down to dine. Sure, maybe they can get some of that information from a credit card, but what about people who pay with cash? Same deal with the swimming pools. Someone has to be there to make sure people are swimming 6 feet apart, but there is no mandate that people register as they enter the pool. The point is that they are only requiring such strict rules for people who go to places of worship. Something is not right here, and even non-religious people are acknowledging that. As for your comment about us having to be in a building to be good Christians, I guess you didn’t notice that this rule applies to ALL places of worship. And no, I do not believe that to be a good Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Mormon or any other religion that you have to be in a building. People of all these faiths live good lives on a daily basis outside of their places of worship. However, their places of worship are important to them and they have a right to worship there without being traced, just like people have a right to protest, swim, ride public transportation, eat at restaurants, etc without being traced. You may not understand why it is important to them to gather once a week in a building, but it is. Places of worship are sacred places, and their community rituals are vital for their members’ spiritual lives. People should be allowed to worship without being traced, just as people are allowed to gather in other places without being traced. We have seen in history what has happened with this type of tracing. This is a dangerous path.
did they collect names and info from everyone at the protests too? Target? The laundromat? Why pick on churches?
I refuse to participate in this ridiculous information gathering scheme.
So what would happen if you refuse to sign in? Who will enforce this? Are they going to send cops to enforce the sign in at churches, presuming cops still exist. Will you be refused admittance if you don’t sign?
You will likely be required to present your drivers’ license or passport. Might even have to pass through a scanner of some type like at the airport.
Where are you getting this information??? Please state your source.
@Church Goer – See above where @parent writes “I just found it …”
That’s a link to the part of the heath department order. See section (3) Places of Worship … / subsection b. 3. which has
I suspect that will get challenged in court and the government will be forced to back off, on constitutional grounds.
You can find the information at the Board of Supervisor’s website, however, the info about the churches is in appendix C -1. Besides churches, it address openings of retail businesses, shopping malls, office workplaces, outdoor museums, libraries, drive-ins amongst others. Churches are the only ones singled out to keep an attendance log.
This article links directly to the appendix. http://contracostaherald.com/new-contra-costa-health-order-requires-churches-gather-names-and-contact-info-of-all-worship-service-attendees-and-give-it-to-county-upon-demand/
I’m not sure who has authority over the county health officer, but I’m contacting my county supervisor about this.
@Pyrrhus
You make a good point that many churches already take attendance. So why should our Constitutional rights be chipped away at by making it compulsory?
I’m not sure what you mean by being “screwed” by the protests. Any huge surge from the protests should be reflected in the statistics by now.
Is there any evidence, short of a government edict, that would convince you that the “pandemic” is over?
Odd you need to give all your personal info up to county health while going to church mind you while wearing a mask, social distancing etc. but you dont have to do it anyehere else where the same public health rules apply and are abididedwith the same risk of exposure. But no requirement of personal info is being required anywhere else even at the almighty Walmart Hhmmmmm!?!?!? Odd quite odd????
If everyone signs in as D. Duck and M. Mouse that could solve a whole lot of problems.
I called the health department. They were nice but essentially had no answers. When I pressed them they told me to call the board of supervisors…..so I did. Well every single one of the 5 supervisors directed me back to……you guessed it, the health department.
I ended up on a circular call forwarding chain. (Health Dept, BOS, Health Dept, BOS, ad infinitum).
What is disturbing to me is that they are singling out religious institutions. It’s one thing to order that any indoor gathering of greater than 12 people has to maintain a list, it’s entirely another to order that lists ONLY apply to religious services.
Brings to mind a the very first line of the first Amendment of the US Constitution. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”
Pretty creepy slippery slope if you ask me.
If my church goes along with this, I will stop my weekly donation.
@Pyrrhus
You make a good point that many churches already take attendance. So why should our Constitutional rights be chipped away at by making it compulsory?
I’m not sure what you mean by being “screwed” by the protests. Any huge surge from the protests should be reflected in the statistics by now.
Is there any evidence, short of a government edict, that would convince you that the “pandemic” is over?
Now we need to know what religious affiliation everyone has and we need to know where and how often they attend services, who they associate with, etc……..in the name of their own safety. Yeah, right…..
If I attend and have to sign a roster, I think I will suddenly identify as a female Bozo the Clown. Address 1 Main Street, Candyland, CA 12345. Phone number 555-555-5555
Was there a sign-in sheet for the thousands of people protesting on the Golden Gate Bridge?
Just play the game: Put up a couple of protest signs (No religious discrimination or something similar) and it’s not a church service, it’s a protest.
Nothing surprises me anymore. This is what a world without Jesus Christ looks like. I just shake my head in a mixture of disgust and sorrow, and then I pray. There is obviously no going back to where we were before all this began. The die has been cast. The tribulation is just ahead.
Sounds eerily like Nazi Germany. Once again an attack on religion. If churches are required to report attendees, then so should every store, restaurant, theatre, public transportation and yes every PROTESTER. Once equality is in place for all then every public employee who has access to this information must have their personal contact information provided, not their business address and phone number, their home information. The government has become far too intrusive in our lives and in California it becomes more prevalent.
It sounds like the county is looking for an excuse to close churches again.
I suspect we’ll see SCOTUS further strengthening the rights defined by the BoR.
And the person who came up with this idea needs to be fired.
This is entirely un-American and crazy. I myself am not religious, but even I can see when something is blatantly hypocritical. Whether it is targeted at Christians or not I’m not sure, but there was a protest near my work with 300-400 angry people shoulder to shoulder a day or so ago. So…what is really going on here?
It’s blatantly hypocritical, because it’s blatantly political………
Since there is no requirement to verify an attendee’s identification, make the list as:
Mickey Mouse #1
Mickey Mouse #2 …
etc.
Also, the church is legally not permitted to store Non Public Information (NPI) (Date of Birth, Drivers license, Social Security #) etc, so in order to prevent lawsuits of NPI data disclosure, church should suggest to their attendees to not provide their true NPI information
Can’t wait to see the log from a mass attended by 12 people all named Gavin Newsom
I told everyone that the county employees would not relinquish their power over the people willingly.
This, among many other actions, have proven me correct.
Ya’ll needs to take a hard stand with the County Board of Sups and force them to stand down this health emergency and get those people back to counting paperclips, a job they are appropriately trained and talented to perform.
1) this ruling goes against the 1st admement to the. US
Constitution.
2) this ruling is to discourage people from going to.
church.
This will rise up real Godly men. And cowards will be exposed!
Praise to the living God.
Just sign in as Alex Tourk or Ruby Rippey-Gibney, address 10th and L st, Sacramento. If that’s too subtle sign in as Ben Dover……….
If you are a down to earth religious person you realize whatever God you believe in doesn’t care if you go to a building every weekend to donate money and listen to some guy tell you how to raise your family and live your life. Hopefully out of all the religions you chose the right one right? Otherwise the old man in the sky will be mad?
In any event I think this rule sounds ridiculous to any person. Either allow religious gatherings or don’t…
I think it’s sad how some people who don’t have religious beliefs think they are so much more intelligent than everyone else.
I hope I never become so full of myself that I could become confident I have all the answers….. and no… I’m not a religious person.
Reasonable if applied across the board. Since it is clearly not, this is unconstitutional. Protests, stores, restaurants do not need to do this.
Just another way for Big Brother to track all the Christians so that they can round them up sometime in the future like they did the Jews. It’s insane what going on in this country right now.
After reading the order and subsequent responses here, I have questions as to how and why this health order impacts the ability to attend religious services. No one is prevented from attending and either putting their name (or a false name if lying isn’t a problem for their faith), or outright refusing to put anything down.
Some people are referring to this being a violation of their First Amendment Rights, to which I ask what law Congress passed that infringed upon their free exercise of religion and did the President sign this into law?
Some are also asking why the religious institutions are specifically required when businesses aren’t, to which I agree. We should treat them exactly the same, same health guidelines, all prohibitions on discrimination, and most importantly all taxes applied. Fair is fair, after all. Is this what you mean by treating them the same?
Serious Questions: Re-read your post and try to figure out why is does not make sense. Really. Go re-read it. Several times. You didn’t but lets play anyway. Go to the first line. Do you see your real name there? Light bulb moment ! A bit of a problem for you. Why didn’t you post your real name? Because it is no one’s business here. You are posting ideas for discussion, and it would be creepy to track you for it. In the same way, it is chilling and creepy that government bureaucrats have decided to single out churches for some reason to monitor who goes there.