On the other hand, the Hamilton Diocese has asked us to refrain from receiving Holy Communion on the tongue - a change that's bothered me for sure.

Meanwhile in the Diocese of Calgary, only priests are allowed to distribute communion on the tongue priests who distribute communion on the tongue aren’t allowed to distribute communion in the hand. IOW: In parishes where there is only one priest, he must distribute communion on the tongue only and anyone who wants to receive from him, must receive on the tongue. It’s an interesting directive.

One directive I feel is particularly overkill is The requirement for anyone who travels internationally to voluntarily self-isolate themselves for 14 days even if you feel fine. It’s actually a violation of Canadians’ Charter Rights of free movement throughout the country. The Diocese doesn’t have the authority or power to temporarily restrict that right.

Nothing has changed in East Tennessee, other than a directive that we not shake hands at the sign of peace. One of my older choristers was having a blast demonstrating fist, elbow, and hip bumps in the choir loft. They did tell us to stay home if we are sick. Some heed that advice, unfortunately some never will.

In my blighted past I have served as an EMoHC.

My experience is that Communion in the hand almost always involves hand-to-hand combat. I mean, contact.

Communion on the tongue almost never involves contact. This is particularly true when the receiver is kneeling, due to sight lines and leverage.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one doing contingency planning.
Level 1: I sent out an email yesterday AM inquiring about the situation at Walsh University. I have a number of choristers from there, and need to know if they get sent home (as most of the local universities are). So far, no answers,

Level 2: if Mass is cancelled totally. We could rehearse still, though I'm not sure where. And depending on conditions then, it might not be wise. At the worst, I would offer to do individual voice/music lessons with people over Skype. In either case, the goal would be individual knowledge/skill building, since we wouldn't have a Mass to prepare for.

I've also made sure I could access the Proper for the Votive Mass in time of Pestilence, and let our priests know I had it (couldn't find it in the LU, but it's in the Gradual and the Proper tool.)

I'm in academia, we're closing up, it's still unclear if the library is closed and I'll be working from home.

Are lay-organized processions in reparation for the sins of the country permitted, and to protect us against the spread of this disease still possible?

I like the prayer to St. Roch against contagion - widely available on the internet so I won't post it here.

The communion thing I am not worried so much about. If we had to suspend communion for a few weeks we would all survive. No one has advocated that yet, but if they do, I will be fine with it.

According to an article in the New York Times, the chance of getting this virus is similar to getting the flu. The death rate is approx. 1 in 200. Those most at risk are the elderly, infants, the infirm, and those with compromised immune systems. Suggested precautions are to wash hands for 20 seconds (up to the wrist) with soap and water after using the restroom, after handling trash, before, during, and after cooking, and immediately before eating (after the server picks up the menus at a restaurant if you are eating out.) Use a hand sanitizer liberally throughout the day. Use sanitizing wipes (e.g. clorox wipes) to wipe down work surfaces, door handles, etc.

I'm in the Archdiocese of Seattle and as of yesterday all Masses are cancelled. Public gatherings of over 250 are banned, and under 250 must abide by certain precautions. I've cancelled all rehearsals and we are planning to wait it out. I'm waiting to hear from the pastor if we might livestream either Mass or some sort of liturgy of the word on Sunday so people can feel a little like they are still part of our community (although I'm not really sure if anything beyond the Liturgy of the Hours exists for only laypeople to run on a Sunday). I have a feeling the answer will be no.

As far as the choir and Holy Week, I am setting my hopes on being able to resume Mass here for Holy Week. With that in mind, I am putting together a digital practice packet for my volunteer choir members. I am hoping that a combination of their own practice and our one previously scheduled mega-practice on the afternoon of Palm Sunday with our hired pros will be enough to pull through with a few modifications.

Although I'm of course disappointed and anxious, I understand why our Archbishop made the decision he did. The goal is to slow the curve of the virus so that our hospitals and healthcare workers are not completely overwhelmed, and there are certain folks who simply will not stay home from Mass no matter how vulnerable or sick they are.

Please pray for us...this is going to be a difficult few weeks.

this virus is highly overhyped with hysteria

Perhaps so, and I suspect you may be right. More of a regional thing, but I have said that if they close Waffle House, then I will take it seriously.

My choir is up in years and I am 72, so not young either. It is warming up in our southeastern region which usually puts a damper on viruses. It really is about a month too early, but I won't complain about the higher temperatures and will be glad to have them.

Not all, but flu type viruses tend to weaken in warmer weather. No one know yet if this particular virus will do the same, but many are hoping it will. It won't die out, but will likely be back during the next winter. Maybe a treatment or vaccine will be developed by then.

The amount of information publicly available about COVID19 development in Singapore is amazing. Singapore is a country where it is never (well hardly ever) cold, so analysis of that data should give some clues about transmissability in warm weather.

@a_f_hawkins

So almost 200 confirmed cases, almost 50% have been discharged, 5% critical and around 45% stable in hospital.
If the rule that only a third of case will be found (due to no or very mild symptoms)

Would suggest 600 cases with less than one percent critical, and 14 % hospitalised.

Having been travelling around London this week everything is continuing normally!

So far directives from the Dicoese (NB: their spelling) of Springfield, MA, is to not exchange the sign of peace (fine with me), no Chalice for the pips (again, fine with me), and drain the Holy Water (great, lets get rid of one of the Church's most powerful sacramentals (provided it's the 1962 Rite) during a time of emergency).

They have also cancelled the Diocesan Catholic Life Conference, and the Bishops of the state are deciding whether or not to close the churches or only half of the churches ("temporarily") to "prevent" the spread of The Virus(TM). I wonder if the diocese will mandate that those who are employed by the closed parishes be compensated for having their jobs taken away from them during this panic as a matter of justice? ... I doubt it. When it comes to Christian Virtues, the Catholic Church is on the bottom of the rung, sorry to say. I also assume that, even if they close all of the churches, the Bishop & Co. will still expect the Annual Diocesan Appeal to swindle the faithful on schedule.

Meanwhile, the public colleges are going bananas---three of them in my county have closed for the rest of the semester. And currently all outside/community events at the Community College where I also work are currently cancelled, pending revue on April 1. Some women this morning were questioning whether they should go to the bathroom at the College because the two janitors on day duty weren't scrubbing the finish off of the toilet seats every five minutes, and where exchanging recipes for home-made hand sanitizer in case the shops should run out.

I'm not saying that this doesn't have the potential to be serious, but the sheer panic is getting a bit out of hand.

There are roughly 60,000 active cases of COVID-19 in a global population of 7.7 billion (with the birthrate ourstriping the deathrate at about 2:1): only about 0.00079% of the population have been diagnosed with this thing, and only about 5,000 have died globally. Compare that to the ~95,000 deaths from seasonal flu since Jan. 1, 2020, or ~8,355,000 abortions, or ~60,800 mothers who have died in child birth, or ~192,800 deaths from malaria, or ~211,000 suicides. Think about that: almost 100,000 more people have committed suicide since Jan. 1, than have contracted COVID-19 (~130,000) since the outbreak, and almost 90,000 more people have died of the flu than COVID-19 (~5,000).

Be safe, take logical precautions, but don't panic. I.e:

@Jeffrey Quick: Fauré's Libera Me?

Diocese of Rochester, NY.

https://catholiccourier.com/sites/default/files/DioceseCoronavirusPrecautions.pdf

Summary:
-No chalice for the laity (already in place d/t flu
-Sign of Peace to be completely omitted, always (had been a suggestion of avoiding contact before)
-No physical contact with anyone during Mass at all. Specifically: DO NOT HOLD HANDS AT THE OUR FATHER. ITERIM DICO. WHY ARE Y’ALL STILL DOING THIS?
-Holy water stoups to be emptied, cleaned, and refilled regularly; may be emptied if deemed necessary, but certainly can be kept in use.
-Fresh water for every baptism, and clean the font before and after.
-Clean all surfaces per health department guidelines.
-Practice “social distancing” at Mass.
-The governor has banned gatherings of 500 or more. If a building has a capacity of 500 or less, its capacity is to be halved to determine its new legal capacity, to allow people to sit properly separated. E.G. Our church legally seats 500, not counting choir loft, sanctuary, etc. Now, we must not have >250 in there at any one time, so they can spread out. If this means there will be too many people at a Mass on Sunday, add another Mass, until there are no more than 1/2 capacity present at any one Mass. (sadly, completely achievable in upstate NY).
-Cancel unspecified unnecessary events (Lenten luncheon is off, choir remains on for now).
-Wash hands.

All this in effect until further notice. All confirmations have been postponed until sometime after April 15, and will be rescheduled once we have a better idea what is happening.

Given the progress of the virus in our state, I imagine further restrictions may be put in place, but don’t know what.

Thankfully, due to the good work of everyone here, there is not any day of the year where one or three or five singers can still praise the Lord in the simplest way while they have breath.

In my entire state, 115 people have been tested.

One hundred fifteen people.

When the city of Rome was assaulted by a plague, eons and eons ago, there was a procession, and the plague ended.

Why are we in such a rush to abandon our Catholic faith?

Sure, there are vulnerable people, but the reaction I'm seeing all over the place (but, interestingly, not among my closest friends) is outright panic. In our diocese, people who are over 50 or have an underlying immune weakness have a dispensation not to attend Mass.

Excepting the Devil from our list, who benefits from all this chaos and panic?

Where is M*A*S*H when it's needed?

Taking my cue from the Ontario Government, which has shut down schools for two weeks following our one week March break starting next week, I have decided to suspend my choir season until further notice. With an older population, I can't let it continue in good conscience lest someone get sick. Over the past few days, the number of cases in Ontario has skyrocketed.

Well, should we be singing? If public liturgies are permitted, perhaps just very well spaced in the not-as-filled pews?

I am going to poll my singers Sunday and follow their lead as to rehearsals. If they want to continue, I will be there. If not, then plan "B" goes into effect.

In 1918, the city of New Ulm, Minn. banned proactively public meetings, entertainments, church services, and school. The outbreak of influenza was much mitigated there compared to other cities. This is nothing new, and hardly a bad idea.

Mortality is not the only factor here. Hospitalization is high. It is important to keep cases down to maximize effective use of medical resources.

Here in the Netherlands all church services on Saturday evening and Sunday of all denominations have been cancelled until at least the end of March. Schools, however, remain open but universities and colleges are closed. Neighboring Belgium has also forbidden public Sunday church services, have closed cafes and pubs as well as restaurants until April 3.

People who are likely to become severely ill by human contact/contagion aren't required to be at Mass. Sick people, people who might be sick, people who have any symptoms aren't under obligation. Cancelling Mass is insane - especially when it isn't being replaced. If our bishop suspends Sunday Mass (suspend the dailies all you want), I will be very much upset.

Choirs shouldn't be meeting? Fine. For those priests who know the Latin Mass, why not implement Low Mass through the remainder of Lent? That will make those bells and organ on Holy Saturday as effective as they are supposed to be.

When disaster strikes, the Church must step UP, not BACK!