I can’t believe that dentists have rapid testing when many states are not competently testing potential actual covid 19 symptomatic cases LOL. Sounds like a cool story.
I think the early intent a month or more ago was for there to be rapid testing that happened but I see now that didn’t make it into the final state guidelines.
Having family parties and gatherings with different households can spread disease. What a surprise.
When the county says all transmission is associated with contact between households, they mean that people are getting sick from parties and gatherings, not from eg going to the grocery store. This is consistent with what we know: transmission is most likely in crowded indoor conditions where an infected person is talking close to other people for an extended period of time.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/23/four-coronavirus-clusters-pop-up-in-santa-cruz-county/
Do you mean this?
https://covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-places-of-worship.pdf
There was apparently pressure from the US DOJ:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000172-3334-d930-a77f-b3b7e1a50000
However, there is considerable variation between churches, with some hesitant to reopen in-person services quickly but others rushing to do so.
https://apnews.com/3f3000c10b92a1953672e92476a257c5
Larger churches may be wanting to reopen, but cautiously.
I wasn’t aware that Ruby Tuesday was still open TBH. Ours closed quite some time ago due to lack of business - well, well before Covid. Perhaps a year, perhaps more. I’m not sure.
He had no choice but to relax restrictions on places of worship. He would have eventually lost in the federal courts. If Costco and Target are allowed to let people in with SD, there is no conceivable way he can argue that houses of worship cannot open with SD.
All churches want to reopen. One Catholic diocese has announced it will begin public Masses in mid-June, with restrictions… Other dioceses in California have not yet announced reopening plans.
I saw some photos online of priests baptizing infants using water pistols. I hope their aim is good!
Attending an in-person religious service would be more analogous to dining in a restaurant, working in most kinds of workplaces, attending a college class, or attending a performance of some kind, versus shopping in a store, in terms of COVID-19 risk.
“Detroit priest goes viral after using squirt gun with holy water to bless parishioners”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/18/detroit-priest-uses-squirt-gun-full-holy-water-viral-photos/5211435002/
From a study at Carnegie Mellon:
NY has limited religious services to max 10 people, masks must be worn as well as social distancing requirement.
The 10 person rule is because to have a Minyon there must be at a minimum 10 people.
Larger gatherings will not be allowed until Phase 4 of reopening.
We are only in Phase 1 and not all regions have been allowed yet into Phase 1.
A traditional high ceiling church with good air flow would seem safer than a room with a low ceiling. Just as outdoors is safer than indoors. 10 people in St. Peter’s is not the same as 10 people in the church basement. It’s the square footage, the volume and air flow that should be determinative.
Despite this, many Jewish groups have come out with group-rabbi letters saying they’re not reopening services yet. I believe the UU also came out with such a letter.
The 10 person rule has been in place long before religious services reopened, so has nothing to do with the Minyon. I don’t know why they decided 10 was the right number but they did. Originally started with 250, then quickly went to 100, then 50, then 10. Some private sports training can have 10, including the instructor. Now restaurants are going to less than 50, or 50% of the restaurant capacity here.
Here the catholic services weren’t closed by the state but by the archbishops (and other churches by their governing bodies, the majority of which closed services). ONe of the first events cancelled was the Easter sunrise service at Red Rocks. Red Rocks is a public facility so the city had the right to close it, but the religious leadership did before the city had to take action. The catholic churches reopened May 15 with either 10 families or 10 people allowed in church depending on the size of the church (which is often just 1% of the full capacity). You have to sign up to attend, but we all have dispensation not to attend. They have started allowing funerals again, and those might allow more than 10. If the archbishops said 200 could attend, that is legal even though 50 is the limit at other places. Many churches are in counties that allow more than 10 to gather, but those churches answer to the archbishop, not to the county or state so they’re still restricted to the 10 people/10 family rule.
I have been on the sidelines observing the Covid threads here for months and remembered a post several days ago that may help answer your question. What I didn’t remember until I went back looking for it was that you actually responded to it in post #3362 on page 169 of this thread.
The quoted post (not yours, but the one you are responding to) mentions “astute commentary” in a linked YouTube video. I think sources can help us understand how someone’s views are shaped or reinforced, and the person in that video (Paul Joseph Watson) is a conspiracy theorist who has been closely associated with Infowars/Alex Jones for almost 20 years, and has been permanently banned from FB and Instagram.
Hello from New Jersey, where things are slowly and cautiously starting to look up.
The rainy and cool MDW bought us a little more time before the crowds truly descend on our beaches. D20 reported it was busy but not insane at the boardwalk and that people were, for the most part, wearing masks.
I visited a garden supply store and the grocery store over the weekend. Both visits were timed to minimize crowd contact (garden store at 8am and grocery store at dinner time last night). Everyone in the grocery store was wearing a mask (as required by our state) and I was pleasantly surprised to see the same at the garden supply store (technically not required as it is an outdoor venue). I took a walk in our town park with a friend. It was crowded and maybe half the people were wearing masks, but most everyone was cognizant of maintaining social distance.
Today our governor announced that schools may hold outdoor, socially-distance compliant graduation ceremonies after July 6th. It is a happy day in this house. 
This is really for the ultra orthodox - who probably haven’t even been social distancing.
Observation at my local Whole foods:
2 weeks ago: Husband reported at least 20% of customers weren’t wearing masks.
This week: Whole Foods is handing out masks to any customer who doesn’t show up with one. Husband reported full compliance.
(no state mandate to wear a mask)