Chief Scientific and Medical Officers confirm that there is no data to support church closures

Yesterday, in giving evidence to the Science and Technology Committee Sir Patrick Vallance & Professor Chris Whitty confirmed they did not really have any good evidence on whether individual measures – such as the closures of churches – support a reduction in the value of ‘R’ (the transmission rate). They said the lockdown was a package of measures and they did not really want to pick apart the likely effects of its individual elements.

Asked specifically about evidence of transmission within places of worship, Sir Patrick admitted, ‘I don’t think we have good data to answer that with any degree of certainty.’

Professor Whitty added that data implying transmissions arising from Covid-secure church meetings is ‘very weak’. They asserted that there could be transmission travelling to and from church but admitted that any evidence for that was ‘anecdotal’. He also agreed that ‘all the faith communities in the UK have been extraordinarily responsible in the way they’ve tried to address this’.

Affinity Director Graham Nicholls, commenting on this news, said:

‘I am encouraged that churches are recognised as having implementing the Covid-19 guidelines responsibly. This has been my experience as a local church leader; people in our congregation have commented that church is one of the safest places to be.

The lack of evidence for churches being a source of transmission supports our case for them to remain open during lockdown.

We call on the government to reconsider the decision to close places of worship for the four-week lockdown and will continue to make a robust case for churches to be allowed to remain open for the glory of God and good of all people.’