• Despite outbreak, Awaken Church holds in-person indoor services.
Congregants gather indoors at Awaken’s Kearny Mesa site
One day after public health officials announced an outbreak of COVID-19 at its Kearny Mesa chapel, Awaken Church held indoor services there on Sunday attended by more than 100 people.
An Awaken Church official declined to comment and requested that a reporter with The San Diego Union-Tribune leave the premises. Several dozen people were observed entering the church for the first services scheduled Sunday, while around 100 were seen going into the church for a second service.
San Diego County public health officials announced Saturday that an outbreak of COVID-19 cases had occurred at Awaken Church’s facility on Balboa Avenue just east of Interstate 805. They called for anyone who attended services between Nov. 15 and Nov. 22 to quarantine for 14 days from attendance.
It is rare for county officials to publicly identify a COVID-19 outbreak by name and specific location. They usually refer to outbreaks as occurring at an unnamed “business” or an anonymous “social gathering.” In a statement, public health officials said they went further this time because county contact tracers had been unable to reach
everyone who might have been exposed.
Awaken Church, which has five locations in San Diego County, had been notified earlier in the week of the outbreak, defined as at least three laboratory-confirmed cases in people from different households who visited the same location within two weeks of illness onset.
Anyone exposed at Awaken Church services should also be tested for COVID-19, the announcement said. County officials did not say how many cases were linked to the services.
Nehemiah Harchegani, who attended service on Sunday, said the public health outbreak announcement was not mentioned — though he said that he had learned of it from news reports.
Harchegani did not attend services at the Kearny Mesa sanctuary from Nov. 15 through Nov. 22. He feels the church is safe and provides
room for distancing. He also mentioned that the church has installed air ionizers that have a high success rate of filtering out harmful pathogens.
“It’s very clean,” he said. Awaken Church caused county public health officials concern this summer because it was holding large gatherings at which few people were wearing masks. It continued holding such services despite being cited for violating the county health order.
Awaken Church was issued a cease-and-desist order by the county on July 17 after it held indoor services in defiance of a public health order banning such gatherings.
On Sunday, only a handful of people entering the building were wearing masks, though Awaken Church made a box of masks available near the entrance.