The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and state governors, after strategic meetings, have grudgingly approved the re-opening of worship centres.
Among the conditions given include the following: all worship centres must be disinfected before services are held; no worship service must exceed an hour; special programmes like Sunday School, Bible Study, and week-day prayer meetings should be suspended; places of worship must observe social distancing; there must be hand-sanitisers and/or running water for washing of hands.
Others include, church members must wear nose mask; microphones should not be shared by ministers; children should not be put at risk by parents, so they should not be taken to places of worship; worshippers must have temperature checks; and the most emphasized is, it is safer to conduct worship services at home.
Political leaders are apprehensive about the dire consequences of re-opening places of worship because of community transmission of Covid-19. Experts have warned that a crowded indoor place with poor ventilation, filled with people talking, shouting or singing for hours puts the people in there at the risk of Covid-19 infection, while a sparsely populated indoor space with open windows is less risky, even though it is said not to be completely safe.
In Pakistan, for instance, where government succumbed to pressures from religious leaders to allow for congregational prayers, the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) President Dr Iftikhar Burney complained recently that “mosques are becoming a major source of virus transmission. Around 6,000 cases of coronavirus surfaced in a month, but the same has double in the last six days [after re-opening of mosques]. Most of the hospitals in the country are housing more coronavirus patients than those suffering from other diseases.”
In the United States, health officials have noticed that infections from churches had become a source of concern, leading them to warn about “the importance of not congregating, not only in church, but also in prayer gatherings in people’s homes.” This was because some 70 cases of Covid-19 were traced to a church in California. As a result of such risks, state governments in the US have given conditions under which churches would hold activities, the most essential of them is that social distancing must be maintained. In Germany church officials played by the rules, disinfected the building ahead of church service, and ensured social distancing. However, it was reported that still over 40 Covid-19 cases were traced to that congregation. This proves that Nigeria would have to brace up for a spike in Covid-19 infections in the coming days and weeks as worship centres have re-opened.
Due to the inherent danger in re-opening places of worship, we call on all religious leaders to place the safety and health condition of worshippers over and above other considerations. Nigeria is reckoned with as a ‘religious country,’ but faith in God does not take away our responsibility as far as our health is concerned. We must show responsibility by adhering to the rules set down by the presidential task force, and to take other precautions against the spread of Covid-19. Prophets of doom predicted that, in many African countries, deaths would be so rampant that our streets would become a sea of corpses. In diverse ways, we have rejected this gloomy prediction, but in order to avert it, we have a role to play.
On the part of government, we call for intensified enlightenment in churches and mosques, especially in rural communities, where Covid-19 is tagged the ‘white man’ or ‘rich men’s’ virus. State governments must stop playing the ostrich by claiming that there is no Covid-19 in their states. As long as people are not tested for Covid-19, no one can claim its absence. Instead, governors must invest heavily in sensitizing their people to how to prevent Covid-19’s spread. Our weak health care infrastructure makes us vulnerable. Our best option is to do those things that would keep the infection far away from us
