Alabama Reopening Checklist for Places of Worship

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Health Protocols for Employees and Volunteers

Allow employees and volunteers to work from home as much as possible.
Screen employees and volunteers for symptoms before coming into facilities with the following questions:
Have you been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19?
Are you experiencing a cough, shortness of breath or sore throat?
Have you had a fever in the last 48 hours?
Have you experienced new loss of taste or smell?
Have you experienced vomiting or diarrhea in the last 24 hours?

Best practice: Take people’s temperatures onsite with a no-touch thermometer each day upon arrival.
Minimum practice: People take their own temperatures before arriving. Normal temperature should not exceed 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Direct any employee or volunteer who exhibits COVID-19 symptoms (answers yes to any of the screening questions or who is running a fever) to leave the premises immediately and seek medical care or COVID-19 testing or both.
Increase hygiene practices: wash hands frequently, avoid touching your face, practice good etiquette when coughing or sneezing.
Consider having employees, volunteers and attendees wear cloth face coverings over the nose and mouth to help protect against the spread of the virus (not an N-95 or medical mask, which should be reserved for healthcare workers).
Practice recommended social distancing, at least six feet between people of different households, to the greatest extent possible.

Regularly and frequently clean and disinfect any regularly touched surfaces, such as doorknobs, tables, chairs and restroom items.
Disinfect seats between services
Discontinue passing of items among attendees and disinfect any items that come into contact with attendees.
Discontinue self-service by guests at drink stations, buffets or salad bars
Make hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, soap and water, or similar disinfectant readily available.
Discontinue self-service for snacks or coffee.
Maintain rigorous sanitation practices like disinfection, handwashing and cleanliness when preparing or serving anything edible.
Improve Ventilation: As basic principles of social distancing, surface cleaning and disinfection, handwashing and other strategies of good hygiene are of the utmost importance in preventing the spread of COVID-19, ventilation in facilities should also be considered.
Consider improving the engineering controls using the building ventilation system. This may include some or all of the following activities: • Increase ventilation rates. • Increase the percentage of outdoor air that circulates into the system. • Do not recirculate air.

Strongly encourage people 65 or older and others especially at risk to watch or participate in the service remotely.
Designate an area inside the facility reserved for the atrisk population or offer a service for at-risk population attendees only.
Ensure proper spacing between attendees: o Keep at least two empty seats (or six feet of separation) between parties in any row, except as follows: • Two or more members of the same household can sit next to one another, with two seats (or six feet separation) empty on either side. o Alternate rows between attendees (every other row left empty).