Mask Policies and our Decision Making Process

The Delta variant of the COVID-19 is causing concern in the United States, Texas, and Johnson County.

As you may have heard yesterday, the Keene Church is requiring that masks be worn inside Keene Church buildings starting August 22, 2021. Once you are seated and socially distanced, you can choose to remove your masks.

This decision is a difficult one but I wanted to explain how we use a data driven approach in our decisions.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services has a dashboard that shows the trends in Texas. Currently, the level of positive cases is indicating that the state of Texas is experiencing another surge with levels similar to where we were in February of this year.

Looking closer at Johnson County statistics, we are experiencing a 23% increase in cases over the last two weeks with over 80 positive cases a day.

We use this data as a basis for making decisions on the policies for the Keene Church and the church board votes our policy changes based on the data and recommendations from the church staff.

We know this is difficult news for some but we pray that we treat each other with Christian love and support one another through these times.

We hope that we can return to normal soon and pray that each of you stay healthy and safe.

Blessings,

Rick