Church ​“Likely” Source Of Covid Cases

A New Haven church has temporarily closed its doors and transitioned back to virtual services after at least 10 congregants tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, amid a feared citywide uptick.

The outbreak occurred among members of Iglesia Jesus Rey De Gloria on Grand Avenue.

Congregants told the Independent that at least 11 fellow members were infected, including a 55 year-old, a 4‑year-old, and two other children.

The city’s Health Department launched an investigation. It has so far confirmed at least seven New Haveners who belong to the church have tested positive, according to city Health Director Maritza Bond. The department verified three other cases involving suburban members afflicted. None has needed to be hospitalized, according to Bond.

Bond said the church is ​“the likely source for their exposures.”

Bond’s team has developed a ​“What you need to know” handout for churches, conducted webinars for up to 100 church leaders, and spread the word in Spanish-language radio interviews.

“They voluntarily chose to conduct virtual services until Aug. 1,” Bond said of Iglesia Jesus Rey De Gloria. ​“They did inform people to self-monitor and self-isolate” and informed people of testing locations. She said she plans to conduct an assessment of the modified protocols the church has agreed to put into place in conjunction with federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines.

The city conducted interviews with congregants. ​“It’s hard to tell the source” of the virus, including whether it began, as originally believed, during a Father’s Day service, or spread some other way.

Church members told the Independent the church did not practice social distancing throughout the early months of the pandemic. They said that Pastor Rafael Sotomayor waited until last weekend to inform the congregation that the Covid-19 cases were circulating in the community. Pastor Sotomayor has denied that he did not practice social distancing and did not inform members of cases within the church.

Bond and a statewide leader of Hispanic evangelical congregations in Connecticut confirmed that the church did not participate in webinars or programs designed to help them implement safety recommendations. From March until last weekend, this church did not respond to outreach efforts by New Haven government’s Community Services Administration (CSA) Covid-19 response team, which has been working with congregations throughout town to take steps to limit the spread of the coronavirus as they reopen for services.

After the health department began investigating, the church agreed to temporarily close its doors. It has agreed to cooperate with the Health Department, the city’s Covid-19 response team, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference for the State of Connecticut, which represents 200 Hispanic Evangelical churches in Connecticut, to ensure this does not happen again.

On June 1, Gov. Ned Lamont relaxed restrictions on religious gatherings. He allowed houses of worship to host as many as 100 people or 25 percent capacity, whichever is smaller, for indoor services and 150 outdoors with proper social distancing measures.

Seventy-nine church ministers in New Haven have promised in an open letter not to hold in-person worship services until more testing is available for Covid-19, the curve ​“not only flattens” but steadily drops, and the Centers for Disease Control announce it safe for people aged 60 years old and above.

As churches began opening nationwide in June and July, they emerged as a new hotspot for Covid-19 infections nationwide. The faithful gathered in indoor spaces, sang hymns, said prayers, and hugged one another, and virus infections spread between people. In New Haven — where the initial wave of cases in the spring devastated at least one local congregation — numerous churches and synagogues have resumed at least some indoor services.

And the city has begun to see a ​“very concerning” ​“slight uptick” in Covid-19 cases, Mayor Justin Elicker reported in a citywide robocall/text/email blast Monday evening. ​“We fully expect another surge and are asking you to raise your awareness to stop the spread. Remember the 3 W’s: wear a mask, watch your distance, and wash your hands,” he implored New Haveners. ​“Wear your mask over your nose and mouth at all times including when you are speaking. If you must have face-to-face meetings, do so outdoors.

“No Social Distancing”

According to two church members’ accounts, until as recently as two weeks ago, the Rev. Sotomayor preached without a mask at Iglesia Jesus Rey De Gloria. Videos of last week’s sermons posted on the church’s Facebook page show the pastor preaching without a face mask. Some congregants would take off their masks during the service, the two members said, even though others kept them on. Until at least July 2, one member did not see signs in the church asking people to wear masks.

The members said that people would sit close together without social distancing. Chairs were not always separated. One member said that a chorus of three continued to sing without masks and air-conditioning would recirculate the air in the second-floor space while the windows remained closed. Between 25 and 50 people would crowd into the space that would, in usual times, accommodate about 60 people, they said. Parishioners often greeted one another with kisses and hugs.

“There was no social distancing,” said one member, who like the other interviewee asked to remain anonymous.

The church continued to hold services until last Thursday afternoon. Sunday afternoon’s in-person worship service was canceled.

“[The pastor] doesn’t use [a mask]. His wife doesn’t use it. I didn’t see him wear a mask,” one member said in the interview. This person tested positive for the virus a week ago. ​“This has been a really sad situation for a lot of people. I love my church and I love my pastor and everything, but it came out of hand.”

The pastor did not tell the congregation early on that there was an outbreak, even as the number of cases in the church community rose, the two members said.

“All the parishioners were oblivious to what was really happening,” they told the Independent via text message. This congregant, too, asked to remain anonymous for fear of being expelled from the church community.

“The first parishioner arrived at the church sick and there is contagion to others. The pastor did not want anyone to know it,” said the member. ​“They kept him quiet since the pastor does not want to close the church. This makes me sad.”

However, a different picture of the church’s handling of the outbreak emerged during an interview with Rafael Sotomayor on Tuesday morning.

The church pastor said he does not recall exactly when he found out about the first case of COVID-19 in the church but that it was in early July. He did not inform the Health Department of the cases at the time.

But he said that he told the church members during Sunday service from the altar that there were cases of COVID-19 among members.

“I informed the church on a regular basis, from time to time, and always said, if you don’t feel good, please let me know for the sake of the security of the church,” Sotomayor said in Spanish with an English translator.

He also said that measures were taken in cleaning the church, seating was separated by families, disinfectant was provided at the door, that there were signs placed at the entrance and exit of the church, that the windows were open if it was not raining, that the church only had two chorus singers performing, and that no one was allowed to enter the church without a mask.

The member who tested positive for COVID-19 said that at least while they were attending in-person service, the pastor had never informed the congregants that there were cases in the church. They stopped attending on 2 July because they got sick. ​“He informed us too late,” they said.

“I Called Him 10 Times”

CSA staffer Carlos Sosa-Lombardo serves as the clergy liaison for the city’s Covid-19 response team. He contacts churches and conducts webinars about best practices during the pandemic to prevent outbreaks. He has a list of all the churches in the city with their contact information. He has spent the past four months contacting every one to tell them about the cleaning and social distancing protocols they should be implementing.

He said he has been able to make contact with all but 20 to 25 — or one quarter — of churches on his list. One of them that he could not contact was Iglesia Jesus Rey De Gloria.

“All of our outreach efforts to [Pastor] Rafael Sotomayor were not successful,” Sosa told the Independent. He had called Sotomayor’s listed phone number ten times since March but Sotomayor never picked up, he said.

When faced with this situation, Sosa-Lombardo usually contacts other pastors to see if they have additional contact information of the person he is trying to reach. But in this case, the other pastors did not.

“You are always worried when you’re doing your job and thinking an outbreak can occur in a place where you’re not able to reach out,” said Sosa-Lombardo. ​“It’s important to respect the religious freedom of our residents. At the same time it’s important that we all protect each other by following the guidance provided by the state.”

Sosa-Lombaro said it is now most important that the church and all its members collaborate with the Health Department so they can do contact tracing and make sure anybody who has been infected can be connected to services and quarantined.

Positive

When one member found out in the first week of July that there were parishioners who had tested positive for Covid-19, they were worried. They immediately got themselves and their family members who attend the church tested for the virus. The next day, one family member tested positive.

Another member began hearing from their church friends on July 5 that congregants had tested positive. Four days earlier, they had begun experiencing symptoms of the virus. They had shortness of breath, headaches and nasal congestion.

“It was scary. The first days were really scary,” the member told the Independent.

As soon as they heard others in the church were infected, they went to take a test. It took a week to receive the results, which confirmed that they were positive. By that point, the worst symptoms had passed.

The person is certain they caught the infection at the church because they are not aware of any cases of the virus at their workplace. They do not visit friends.

“Now, we are really hurt because they knew about some cases and they didn’t say anything,” the person said. ​“I think he should have reported, if he knew. He should have, at least, without saying names, at least said that this is going on in the church. Everybody, do the test, or at least you guys need to wear the mask at all times.”

After finding out that the Health Department was investigating the church, the person said, ​“I think it’s better for the safety of everybody. I don’t think I will be going anymore to that church. I’m really hurt. He lied to everybody.”

Before the last in-person service held at Iglesia Jesus Rey De Gloria began in the evening of 16 July, the Independent spoke to Sotomayor’s son-in-law, Kory Beard, who was the guest speaker for the evening service, in the parking lot of the church. By then, the church had put up signs in both Spanish and English reading, ​“Please have your mask on at all times when entering the building. Please practice social distancing.”

Beard said that when he goes inside, he knows his mask has to be on the whole time. The only time he will take of his mask is to preach. When asked about the cases of Covid-19 in the church congregation, he said he was not aware of such an outbreak, but suggested that the congregants might have caught the virus at the grocery store or other places they visited before they came to the church.

“We don’t want anybody to get sick, because we preach life,” Beard said with a smile.

Isolated Incident?

Over 60 Hispanic Evangelical churches in New Haven have implemented the Health Department’s recommendations for safe reopening of houses of worship.

Some of those safety measures include having a masked usher wearing gloves to open doors for parishioners, reducing the length of service to reduce traffic to and from bathrooms, cancelling smaller group sessions such as children’s groups, dismissing services one row at a time, ensuring six feet of distance between congregants, providing masks, and ensuring everyone wears a mask.

Since March, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) for the State of Connecticut has been providing support to congregations in New Haven and the state and working closely with the Mayor’s office and the city administration to create these protocols.

Rev. Abraham Hernandez, executive director of NHCLC, met with Pastor Sotomayor for the first time on Saturday afternoon to ensure that the church implements adequate safety measures going forward.

He provided Sotomayor with documents detailing the city’s safety recommendations.

Sotomayor told the Independent on Tuesday morning that his advice to other pastors would be to follow the city’s health and safety recommendations and to recognise no church is exempt from the possibility of having cases.

Hernandez said that this is the first case he has seen of a Hispanic church failing to implement safety protocols to prevent a virus outbreak.

“I would say that it is an exception because the hundreds of congregations I’ve been working with, thank God, they’ve done a very good job implementing these recommendations,” said Hernandez. ​“I believe this is an isolated incident.”

He leads a congregation in East Haven, which opened for in-person worship the first Sunday of June. Hernandez said he believes his church has not had any Covid-19 cases.

Of all the pastors he has spoken to the last few weeks, Hernandez said, none have reported outbreaks. ​“All churches are doing well,” he said.

“I feel bad for the people that doesn’t know what is going on,” said one member of Sotomayor’s church, who has stopped showing symptoms for the virus and returned to work. ​“But if he said the truth at the beginning that there was Covid cases, this wouldn’t happened and we wouldn’t got sick.”

Clergy and faith leaders that have any questions or concerns regarding the COVID-19 guidelines may contact Carlos Sosa-Lombardo at 203 – 946-7846 or csosalombardo@newhavenct.gov.