Under the new guidance, places of worship can hold religious services and funerals that limit attendance to 25% of a building’s capacity – or up to 100 attendees, whichever is lower – upon approval by the county department of public health.

Additionally, churches are being asked to establish a written, workplace-specific COVID-19 prevention plan, consider the implementation of a reservation system to limit the number of congregants, and to provide contact information for the local health department in the event of outbreaks among staff and parishioners.

The move comes after 1200 California pastors sent a letter to the governor stating that they would be holding services beginning May 31—Pentecost Sunday— with or without his lifting the order that shut them down two months ago and the Department of Justice’s cautioning that Newsom’s reopening plans were unfairly burdening religious services and that California does more to accommodate religious worship.

Pastor Michael Fisher (Greater Zion Church Family) is not planning to open before July 4 given that modifying his church operations to adhere to state guidelines for religious worship will take some time.

First AME Church has developed an extensive, “23-Point Crisis Recovery Plan,” to lay out proper and responsible protocols intended to lessen the risk of transmission by or to those who visit their campus and its pastor agrees that the reopening of churches shouldn’t be politically motivated by the president.