FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• What are the medical and scientific reasons that require these changes?

  At our last Health and Safety Meeting, our epidemiologic advisor recommended that we change our requirements because of the rise of the delta variant of the virus. Unfortunately, the delta variant is much more transmissible than previous forms.  It also causes a more serious course of illness in its victims.  Epidemiologists have learned this by monitoring what is happening in other countries such as Israel, Australia and the UK.

  For fully vaccinated individuals, meeting in the sanctuary even without masks is still considered a low-risk activity.  However, we can no longer say that this is true for unvaccinated individuals– even with our current practices of masking and physical spacing in the sanctuary. In fact, the risk to unvaccinated people from different household bubbles will most likely rise throughout the summer.  A contributing factor to the risk is the low vaccination rate in San Bernardino County, which is below that of Los Angeles and Riverside Counties and lower than California overall. 

• Why will in-person services be restricted to fully vaccinated only? Why not let each person decide what risks to take?

  Our Jewish values require that we place great value on human life and that we must go to great lengths to protect life. We are firm in our decision that all in-person activities and religious services offered to our community at Congregation Emanu El must be considered either Low Risk or Low-Moderate Risk by CDC standards. Unfortunately, in-person gatherings in our sanctuary for non-vaccinated persons are now considered to be Moderate-High Risk and therefore will no longer meet our requirements.

• Why are there ZOOM ONLY services on some days and IN-PERSON ONLY Services on other Days?

  Due to the technical challenges involved in offering high-quality Services via Zoom and in-person at the same time, we have elected to offer some Zoom only and some in-person only Services. We feel this will make each Service the best it can be. Our goal is to offer all our Services on Zoom without a decrease in the quality of the Service. We are diligently working to achieve this capability soon.

  We value every person who chooses to attend on Zoom. As we experiment with different ways of meeting safely, we are determined that we will not leave any of our community behind—not the unvaccinated, not the children under 12 or the immuno-compromised, not those who have joined from a distance, not those who have other medical and personal reasons that make in-person attendance impossible or impractical. We are dedicated to serving both our in-person and on-line communities.

• What about Shabbat Services in August? What about the High Holy Days?

  The medical experts on our Health and Safety Task Force will continue to provide us with recommendations based on the latest data from our County as well as the CDC and other sources. We will let you know about our plans as they develop. We will expand our in-person gatherings as soon as it is possible to do so safely.