Thank you so much to those who were able to attend the meeting today to discuss next steps and some of the big questions you’re facing right now. I wanted to share some resources that were discussed during the gathering.
Results of our “getting to know you” form. If you’d like to complete the form you can do so here.
The Harvard Global Health Institute website that color codes counties according to recent case and testing data. Compared to the color coding performed by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the HGHI resource is more conservative as far as risk goes.
The Center for Public Integrity’s collection of White House Coronavirus Task Force reports. The availability of reports is spotty, since access depends on open records requests from news journalists and people like myself.
Rev. Jake Hall (Highland Hills Baptist Church, Macon, GA) shared this link for a radio show we did together this summer regarding the pandemic.
Today we discussed a few big topics including good resources to use for assessing disease levels in your community, routes of transmission and how different churches are thinking through preparation for the December holidays. We’ll continue the conversation later this month with another zoom meeting. However, through Substack we have the opportunity to hold discussion threads in addition to this newsletter.
Just a reminder that no risk mitigation strategy is perfect. For that reason, we need to combine or layer different interventions together.
This group is intended to be inclusive and for leaders of all faiths. It is my hope to help you to gather to discuss common issues and concerns and to provide the best consensus that science has to offer when issues of public health arise. As my friend Rev. Jake said today, they didn’t teach epidemiology at seminary. We’ll get through this pandemic and it will be easier to do so if we can learn through it together and support one another in the process.
Thank you ever so much for the love and guidance that you provide to your communities. If I can be of service, don’t be afraid to reach out.
Amber Schmidtke, Ph.D.
My Ph.D. is in Medical Microbiology and Immunology. I've worked at places like Creighton University, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Mercer University School of Medicine. All thoughts are my professional opinion and should not be considered medical advice.