Indoor religious gatherings
LA County ends ban on indoor religious gatherings
Churches in Los Angeles County will be allowed to reopen for indoor services for the first time in five months under modified COVID-19 safety guidelines announced Saturday.
The change in protocol from the county’s Department of Public Health (DPH) now allows for both indoor and outdoor “faith-based services” provided they follow social distancing and face covering requirements, essentially ending the ban on indoor religious gatherings in place since July 2020.
The county said it was updating its guidelines to “align with recent Supreme Court rulings for places of worship,” presumably the Court’s 5-4 ruling last month lifting restrictions on houses of worship in parts of Brooklyn imposed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and several similar decisions in other parts of the country that have followed.