In early March, leaders of Washington’s Skagit Valley Chorale went ahead with practice at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon, Wash., early in the Coronavirus crisis. According to an article in the LA Times, “Skagit County hadn’t reported any cases, schools and businesses remained open, and prohibitions on large gatherings had yet to be announced.” The group used hand sanitizers on the way in, avoided contact and spaced themselves out as much as possible in the volleyball court sized room. But it is reported that 45 of the 66 singers contracted Covid-19 that night and two of them died.
Gathering in groups will not be the only hurdle churches have to address in an effort to return to “normal worship services.” Everyone agrees we are all headed for a “new normal,” but with singing and worship being almost synonymous, it’s hard to imagine church without it. But researchers have discovered that the virus is more transmissible in the act of forceful singing, much more than when just talking.
Erin Bromage is a Comparative Immunologist and Professor of Biology (specializing in Immunology) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In a recent blog, he explains statistics show how and where most Covid-19 patients are getting sick, saying indoor environments are much more of a risk than outdoor ones and singing increases the risk.
Bromage addresses the chorale rehearsal in Washington, saying the act of singing makes meeting indoors as a group more dangerous. He says, “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.”
In his blog he outlines numerous large-spread events and cites their commonality, “All these infection events were indoors, with people closely-spaced, with lots of talking, singing, or yelling.” But he says outdoor events are much safer. “Importantly, of the countries performing contact tracing properly, only a single outbreak has been reported from an outdoor environment (less than 0.3% of traced infections). (ref)”
There are many questions church leaders are now considering. Inside or outside? Will requiring masks work well enough to prevent viral spread? But they also have to consider the extra hazard of spread while singing. How far apart do people have to stand in an indoor environment to be able to sing together - even with masks? These questions may go beyond CDC guidelines for social distancing during talking-only group interactions. Is there more distance required for people who are singing, even now as many of our worship teams meet to record or livestream weekend services without masks? The new normal for churches may be more difficult to determine than for groups that simply gather.