The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office has cited a Richmond pastor for defying the coronavirus shelter-in-place order by holding church services on Easter Sunday, according to Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia.
Although it has happened elsewhere in the country, Pastor Wyndford Williams of All Nations Church of God in Christ is believed to be the first Bay Area religious leader cited for violating the health ordinances put in place to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The misdemeanor citation was announced Thursday, Supervisor Gioia said.
Two Sundays before Easter, on March 29, Williams told his congregation from the pulpit, “a preacher said on TV the other day that we would be fools to go to church but we are just fools for Christ,” according to a Facebook video of the sermon.
The Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order initially went into effect March 15, and banned large gatherings and non-essential businesses from operating. Pastor Williams could not be immediately reached Thursday afternoon.
Gioia, who represents West Contra Costa, said the citation is the only one he knows of involving a religious group.
“We all need to take the health order seriously because this is about saving lives and keeping our hospitals from being overloaded,” Gioia said. The order “applies equally to religious gatherings, funerals, and political meetings. I want to applaud the faith community for abiding by the order and using alternative means of worship. Not having gatherings does not mean not worshiping,” the supervisor said.
In Oakland, police on Easter received at least one complaint of a church holding services but the city did not issuing any citations.
Four more COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Contra Costa on Thursday, along with 16 more people testing positive for the potentially deadly virus. A total of 631 residents have tested positive and 18 have died, county health officials said.
Richmond has recorded the most cases with 66, although it ranks 12th of 26 Contra Costa cities with the most cases per 100,000 residents. Behind Concord, Richmond is the largest county city and just above Antioch in population.
All Nations Church of God in Christ is on York Street in an area where North Richmond is jurisdictionally split between the city of Richmond and unincorporated Contra Costa, putting it under Sheriff David Livingston. Because of the way county health displays COVID-19 data, it is difficult to know if any cases exist among the more than 3,000 North Richmond residents.
During the March 29 sermon, Williams praised the work of people risking their lives to help others and said, “Lord, we ask you to help the nation help those that are sick today.” The pastor, according to the Facebook video, also told churchgoers how the virus “affects different ways, affects people in their lungs, respiratory system.”
Earlier this month, at least 70 people linked to a Pentecostal church in Rancho Cordova, a suburb north of Sacramento, were infected with coronavirus.
In Virginia, a pastor contracted COVID-19 and died after defying warning about the dangers of religious gatherings and saying he’d keep preaching “unless I’m in jail or the hospital.” The pastor of a Pentecostal megachurch in Florida was arrested last month after hundreds of preaching in front of hundreds of people.
