Changes to the way lo­cal Catholics are to con­duct them­selves and in­ter­act with each oth­er and the cler­gy have been is­sued by the Arch­dio­cese of Port of Spain, in its lat­est of­fi­cial state­ment on COVID-19.

The changes, which re­duce or elim­i­nate phys­i­cal con­tact among parish­ioners and cler­gy, go in­to ef­fect im­me­di­ate­ly.

The full text of the state­ment from the Arch­dio­cese, fol­lows…

With the con­fir­ma­tion that the gov­ern­ment of T&T is es­ca­lat­ing their pol­i­cy on COVID-19, the Ro­man Catholic Church of the Arch­dio­cese of Port of Spain is now up­dat­ing their guide­lines.

Ef­fec­tive im­me­di­ate­ly, un­til fur­ther no­tice, full pre­cau­tion­ary mea­sures must be fol­lowed at all Catholic Mass­es and Ser­vices:

1. Holy Com­mu­nion will be dis­trib­uted on­ly in the hand (not on the tongue)

2. No dis­tri­b­u­tion of the Pre­cious Blood

3. At the ex­change of the Sign of the Peace, no hand­shakes are to be giv­en (make a small bow in­stead)

4. No holy wa­ter will be pro­vid­ed for use in pub­lic spaces

5. Min­is­ters who dis­trib­ute com­mu­nion must sani­tise hands be­fore and af­ter dis­tri­b­u­tion

6. Sani­tise or wash hands with soap be­fore and af­ter church and af­ter leav­ing church re­stroom

7. Cough or sneeze in­to a flexed el­bow or tis­sue, then throw tis­sue in­to a closed bin

8. Seek med­ical as­sis­tance and stay iso­lat­ed if you ex­hib­it any flu-like symp­toms

The Arch­dio­cese of Port of Spain con­tin­ues to pray fer­vent­ly for and join in sol­i­dar­i­ty with those im­pact­ed by or work­ing to treat COVID-19.

You are urged to keep abreast of any fur­ther up­dates on the Arch­dio­cese’s po­si­tion on this mat­ter via face­book.com/catholictt