Sadly, I'm not exaggerating here. The repurposing of areas not previously used for patient care has become a reality in many hospitals as this wave of the coronacrisis overwhelms critical care facilities around the country.
Hospitals are running short on both space and staff. Turning the chapel into an intensive care unit is one thing; but you can't just assign the kitchen crew to nursing duty. Heck, reassigning nurses and doctors from one unit to another can be problematic — but virtually every hospital in the country is having to do it these days.
The Supreme Court has ruled that government may not restrict religious institutions' ability to host weekly superspreader events. This may well be in keeping with what some of our Founding Fathers would have thought, but begs the question of what other health and safety regulations no longer apply to churches, synagogues, mosques, and the colanders where Flying Spaghetti Monster worshippers meet.
Signers of the Constitution included four physicians: Josiah Bartlett, Benjamin Rush, Matthew Thornton, and Lyman Hall — the latter also a minister, as was signer John Witherspoon. Alas, if only we could get them back together to bring some clarity to this discussion.
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