Coronavirus Response
Delano UMC is committing to "flattening the curve" in response to the Coronavirus pandemic by cancelling all gatherings for the next week and very likely longer depending on how the situation progresses. The decision to cancel was not taken lightly, but we believe that taking action now can save lives in the weeks to come.
Although COVID-19 does not pose a serious health threat to most people, the rate at which it is capable of infecting a large population means that even a small percentage of people experiencing a serious or life threatening response can easily overwhelm our health care capabilities. Countries and communities that are taking drastic social distancing action EARLY are experiencing significantly less impact on their health care resources.
We are very aware that flattening the curve and practicing social distancing will have a negative impact on the economy and on people's lives in other ways. But we believe that the economic problems that will surely come are more easily mitigated than the unnecessary loss of life that may come if our health care professionals and facilities become overwhelmed. Our prayer is that our communities, government leaders and businesses all pull together in order to take extraordinary steps to care for one another and see that everyone can get through this with as little suffering as possible.
Now is the time that we get to love our neighbors in very practical ways as Jesus asked us to do and all we have to do is stay home, stay clean and healthy. Our congregational care team will be making calls and checking in with everyone over the next week and making sure that everyone is doing alright, and has what they need.
We will get through this together. God bless.