Diocese of Tucson Changes Practices Amid Coronavirus Fears

TUCSON, AZ — The Diocese of Tucson last week announced it is changing the way it does a few things to prevent the spread of illness — at least until the spread of the new coronavirus blows over.

In a March 5 statement, the diocese said its main concern today is not COVID-19 but the seasonal flu. But similar measures can prevent the spread of both viruses.

In the letter, Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger first implored parishioners to get a flu shot immediately.

"If the coronavirus were to become serious, the thousands of hospital beds annually used for flu victims would be needed for others," Weisenburger wrote in the statement.

Weisenburger also asked any parishioner who is sick with an illness like a cold or the flu to stay home as an act of charity: "the Sunday Mass obligation is a most serious matter, but it is always suspended for those who are ill."

The bishop also implored local pastors to follow a number of procedures believed to help stop the spread of illness.

• Refraining from using Holy Water fonts or basins
• Expressing the Sign of Peace in a way that does not involve physical contact. Weisenburger suggests a small bow
• Pastors and parishioners are asked to wash their hands frequently
• Special Ministers of Holy Communion are to wash hands before and after the distribution of communion and to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Pastors are asked to refrain from using the common cup chalice in communion
• Communion is to be distributed into parishioners' hands instead of on the tongue
• Communion vessels are to be washed with soap and hot water after mass
• Congregations are not to hold hands during the Our Father prayer

Similar precautions are being implemented in dioceses across the U.S., including in Austin, Texas; Memphis; Pittsburgh; Paterson, New Jersey; and Joliet, Illinois.