Coronavirus caution: Cleveland Catholic Diocese urges church-goers to take new measures at mass; Beachwood schools cancel trip to Italy

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Beachwood City Schools cancelled its orchestra trip to Italy because of the coronavirus outbreak near Milan.

© Elaine Thompson A woman prays after having the sign of the cross placed on her forehead in ash during an Ash Wednesday service at Christ Our Hope Catholic Church, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in downtown Seattle. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a solemn period of 40 days of prayer and self-denial leading up to Easter.

The trip was scheduled for March 20 - 27, and included areas that the U.S. has warned citizens to completely avoid.

The school district is working to obtain refunds for those who planned to attend the trip.

Churches urged to follow CDC guidelines

The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is heeding CDC recommendations, and suggests that the following measures be taken during mass:

• Clergy and ministers are reminded of the need to practice good hygiene. Ministers of communion should be encouraged to wash their hands before mass begins, and/or to use alcohol-based hand sanitizer before and after distributing communion.

• Liturgical ministers should not serve if they are sick. This includes both clergy and lay ministers.

• Church-goers who are sick should stay home, and those who are healthy should wash their hands frequently. (Missing mass when you’re sick is not a sin.)

• Church-goers should use alcohol-based hand sanitizer, especially after shaking hands with others.

• Church-goers who have sick family members should protect others by abstaining from receiving communion on the tongue, and by abstaining from drinking wine.

Precautionary measures which might be taken at the discretion of the pastor--especially should COVID-19 spread to Ohio--would include:

• Instructing the assembly to temporarily exchange the sign of peace without physical contact.

• Temporarily suspending the distribution of communion

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