Dear UU of SCV community:

With the news surrounding the coronavirus outbreak around the world and cases in the U.S., it is natural for fears and questions to arise. With that in mind, I am writing to you about how to care for yourselves, and how we will continue to operate as a community. Now, we here in SCV and Southern California, are somewhat familiar with calamities that disrupt life as usual and urge us to prioritize health and safety and manage our fears and anxieties appropriately. We are a resilient people. Please read the following, and if your anxiety about this is just feeling too much, you are not alone.

In Faith,
Rev. Megan

Maintaining Health Phase
Right now, we are in a “maintaining health” phase. During this time take precautions to keep yourself and any family members safe. This includes the following advice, drawn from guidelines from the CDC:

Stay home if sick: This includes attendance at all worship services and church activities. All community members should stay home (or seek medical attention) if they are sick or they have any flu or cold-like symptoms until at least 24 hours after fever and symptoms are gone. Temperature should be measured without the use of fever-reducing medicines such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

Remember to stock upon over-the-counter medicines and refill all your prescriptions.

Avoid exposure: Avoid close contact with those who are sick. When experiencing flu-like symptoms, conduct visits and meetings by phone or internet, and not risking exposure.

Practice hygiene precautions:
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing (disposing of them frequently), or cough and sneeze into your sleeve elbow.
• Wash hands often or use hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
• According to the UK’s health department, face masks have little evidence of widespread benefit of their use outside of clinical settings, as they must be worn correctly, changed frequently, removed properly, and disposed of safely. The CDC does not recommend wearing a facemask to protect from the virus, but does recommend facemasks for people who are infected.
• Avoid sharing utensils, cups, towels, and other items, and wash these items thoroughly.

In addition, get lots of sleep, manage stress, drink fluids and eat healthy foods, and maintain the physical and spiritual practices that keep you feeling healthy.

Practice kindness and counter prejudices:
We know from previous outbreaks of new viruses, such as MERS or SARS, that prejudice and discrimination emerge alongside fear and anxiety in our culture and in our communities. As Unitarian Universalists, we are dedicated to practicing kindness and countering these prejudices as disease and illness do not discriminate.

Disruption Phase
If a widespread outbreak occurs in the U.S., particularly in our area, we will follow state and federal recommendations about shutting down programs at our locations, following the example of local schools and businesses. During this time, we will try to provide services and programs electronically as much as possible, sending worship services, religious exploration, and other programming to your homes when possible. We will attempt to communicate any transitions with all our members through our website, Facebook page and our regular electronic communications, similar to our procedures for any kind of emergency. This will continue as long as federal or state guidelines to avoid public places are in place.

Re-emerging Phase
When all restrictions are lifted, we will work to resume our regular church activities and re-emerge as a community.