New Guidelines following Governor Brown's announcement of a 'pause' with stricter guidelines

9 November 2020

TO: All stake and wards leaders in the Mount Hood Stake

Dear Leaders,

As you know Governor Brown recently announced a two-week "pause" by listing additional safety precautions for five counties beginning this Wednesday, Nov. 11. The new guidelines were issued for some businesses and "informal social gatherings" (usually in homes) where precautions are easily ignored. Her action was in response to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in Oregon.

Gratefully, the new restrictions did not include religious groups or faith-based meetings. We believe that is because officials acknowledge that churches, like ours, are making every effort to follow safety guidelines.

Additionally, Clackamas County (where all of our meetinghouses are located) was not included in the governor's directive. However, Clackamas County is experiencing a surge in Covid cases, too, and may soon come under the same restrictions. Regardless, we want to be good citizens and comply with all official guidelines as best as possible.

Therefore we ask you to please follow these (hopefully temporary) guidelines for our stake:

'OFFICIAL' GATHERINGS

• Continue to hold Church in-person services and classes, specifically: (1) sacrament meetings; (2) second-hour classes for youth and YSA; and (3) weekday youth activities.
  
  
• Continue to follow safety precautions during in-person gatherings, such as wearing face coverings indoors and even outdoors, if unable to social distance.
  
  
• Stress with parents the expectation that youth comply with safety precautions, including wearing of a mask indoors.

OTHER GATHERINGS

• Where possible, please defer to virtual rather than in-person for (1) presidency meetings; (2) interviews; and (3) adult classes, including Relief Society, Elders Quorum and Self-Reliance classes.
  
  
• Use meetinghouses only for Church gatherings where adult leaders are present and are willing to assume responsibility for the safety of the group, including maintaining a list of all attendees for contact-tracing purposes.
  
  
• Do not use cultural halls for contact sports and other activities where participants are unable to practice social distancing and wear face coverings.

We hope these new guidelines will not be permanent. In the meantime, we appreciate your willingness to help protect our stake members and communities.

Gratefully,

Mount Hood Oregon Stake Presidency