The people who attended the Wednesday night Christian Faith and Music event in Redding are being asked by the Shasta County Health Department to be quarantined for 14 days, tested and monitored for possible symptoms.
After receiving criticism from social media and county health officials for hosting the event, Feucht released an online statement defending it.
“Masks were made available, social distancing was encouraged, and the meeting was held outside as an added precaution.
“The freedom to worship God is the constitutional right of all American citizens, and those who exercise this right should not be subject to unfair criticism.”
What California’s coronavirus restrictions say
Counties not on the list, such as Shasta County, which had 268 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Thursday, allow limited indoor worship. Indoor singing and singing are prohibited, and indoor attendance is limited to 25% of capacity or 100 people, whichever is less.
The Shasta County health agency said Thursday it is sympathetic to “all who have had to change the way they worship in the past few months.” But she noted that other groups have sacrificed.
“Our students have sacrificed traditional graduations, and people have had to postpone weddings and celebrate funerals without the presence of loved ones,” the agency said. “Local businesses continue to fight. If Shasta County ends up on the state watch list, our children will not be allowed to return to school in person, and our businesses and churches will face more restrictions.”
Statewide, more than 12,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported Thursday, the second highest daily number during the pandemic.
Officials suggest they were misled about the event beforehand.
The county health agency and the Redding city government suggested in statements that they were misled about the magnitude of the event before it happened.
The county agency said Redding officials “were confident that the event would involve social estrangement.”
The city has the right to assemble peacefully without approval, the city said, but a permit is required “when the organizer requests special services or waivers.”
“This was not supposed to be the case at the (Wednesday) meeting,” the city said.
“We did that and never received a response. I assumed it was enough and that we had the green light,” he wrote.
The county health agency said event organizers never contacted him. But after hearing about the event, “he came up and … called the social distancing requirements for outdoor services,” he said.
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