Winchester Church Closes While Parishioner, Priests Quarantine

WINCHESTER, MA — A Winchester church has to temporarily close for 14 days after a parishioner with close contact to church staff and the two priests, tested positive for coronavirus. St. Eulalia church in Winchester issued a statement to its congregation saying the church building and parish offices will be temporarily closed while the priests and staff quarantine for 14 days.

"It has to come to our attention that one of our parishioners has tested positively for COVID-19. Because this individual has worked closely with some members of the parish staff and both of our priests those individuals now need to go into quarantine for their safety and the safety of others," the statement reads.

The church has been live-streaming masses on Facebook throughout the pandemic. The church plans to continue the live streams as the priests are in quarantine. St. Eulalia's told parishioners it would update them on the status of reopening once it was closer to the two-week mark.

The church will be cleaned and sanitized before reopening.

The positive case comes almost three weeks after the state allowed houses of worship to reopen.