Local officials plan to reopen churches, discuss risks in daily update

JACKSON, Tenn. — The city and county are working to bring area pastors together to reopen churches, and the health department is clearing up a few questions about testing.

City and county leaders are warning that when we start phase 1 of reopening next week, normal won’t actually be normal.

“Things won’t go back to normal on Monday,” said Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris. “We’re going to be under a cloud for a long time with this.”

The mayors have appointed 16 pastors to help lead their communities into the next phase of reopening.

“We want to make sure we’re providing that guidance and getting the guidance from those who are going to be preaching,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger.

But what changes will we see?

“That’s a great question that I don’t have the answer to,” Mayor Conger said. “We want to make sure we’re doing it in a responsible manner, that our churches are taking the lead in being responsible in how they re-implement worship services in person.”

Kim Tedford says two of the people who tested positive this weekend were previously known positives.

“One was tested on April 1st originally, and one was tested on the 3rd. So you can see, that was 15 and 13 days out that they were still testing positive,” Tedford said. “There’s no definite information on how long a person is going to test positive once they are positive.”

And if the health department contacts you, expect a call, not a text.

The pastor of Campbell Street Church of Christ, Danny Sorrell, said in part:

“I think it is important for the churches to do what they can do to keep this virus from spreading. If everyone does what they need to do, then we can all move forward, but if churches don’t comply, then we risk a spike in cases and even more sickness and death.”