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Comment by joncp | Hacker News Reader

Finding the worst crackpots and giving them a platform is not good journalism. Instead, Reuters should be reaching out to the >> 99% of churches that are sane and finding out what they're doing to help people being affected by the virus and recession.

... but interviewing sane people doesn't generate clicks.

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South Korea’s initial big spike in cases came from a single superspreader going to a religious gathering. It’s not unreasonable to highlight the potential for that here.

Have you read much about the religious gathering to understand whether it is similar to a normal church service?

I’ve been to enough church services to know they’re a place germs can spread.

I'm not familiar with South Korean church practices, but there is an instance of a choir practice in the US that spread COVID-19 fairly effectively. This suggests that singing, a common practice in US churches (in my experience), spreads the disease. An article on the event reports that the choir members attempted to distance themselves from each other and use hand sanitizer.

https://nypost.com/2020/03/30/washington-choir-rehearsal-tur...

The members also averaged 63 years old, right in the most likely age group to catch the virus.

Are you under the impression old people don’t go to church? Have you been to a church service?

Yes, many. My point is the chorale group is not representative of all church group demographics. If people can shop safely, they can go to church safely.

Social distancing in a church, given a 6’ distance requirement, 2’ per seat wide, and 3’ from center of one row to the next, would mean that 1/8 of the normal congregation could fit in the chapel. Half are immediately out, because you would need at least every other row empty. In a given row, 1 of 4 seats would be filled, to maintain 6’ between individuals.

On Easter Sunday, churches are full to the point where they have multiple services throughout the day to accommodate everybody. So, while possible, it’s not reasonable to hold an Easter Sunday church service in these times.

Why prohibit all services just because we cannot accomodate everyone?

Perhaps because they're not advocating for letting 1/8th of a congregation in, but all of the congregation.

previous to the complete lockdown MD where I live was restricting congregation size, so a middle road is possible

To stop you and your family from being exposed to the virus.

And potentially my family, if you decide to cough on my groceries after the service. since you think it's safe to shop, congregate in large groups, etc.

very few things in life are entirely safe, e.g. many more people die from traffic accidents than will die from covid-19

The South Korean cult church had tons of people in their 20s, and they got the virus all the same.

Being young just means they don't die easily, but they are quite capable of catching the virus and spreading to others who may die more easily.

that was a mass, tightly packed congregation

Considering how the virus spreads, and how quickly, it makes perfect sense to cover and interview these people. If they were only hurting themselves, then maybe they could be ignored. But they're not. They're putting their families, and communities at risk.

Right. Fine the hell out of them, but don't give them a platform.

That seems unreasonable. "Churches" is an enormous and highly general category. That's analogous to criticising a story on a business doing something controversial or dangerous instead of exclusively interviewing the thousands of businesses doing good.

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