New national registry to help churches track COVID-19
National
A new national registry has been launched to help Churches track cases of COVID-19 in a bid to keep parishioners safe.
Catholics across the country have been asked to register their attendance at their local parish via massregister.com.au in line with the Federal Government’s 3-step framework that requires every religious gathering to record contact details of people attending.
Whether people are going to church for private prayer, confession or Mass they are asked to register at the new website as well as meet any state-based requirements.
The launch of the new initiative comes after churches across the country re-opened after being closed since March 23.
Catholics need to visit massregister.com.au just once, to provide their contact details as well as the parish or parishes they usually visit.
If a confirmed case of COVID-19 occurs in a parish, every person who has registered as an attendee of the parish will receive an email notifying them of the diagnosis and the date and time the infected person attended the church. No other details will be provided.
The MassRegister.com.au tool will enable the collection of generic contact details, while maintaining confidentiality so that a parishioner does not have to ‘sign in’ during advertised confession times in the parish.
The registry will also allow parishes to communicate directly with those who have registered for their parish, notifying them of Mass times and other parish news.
Parishes that request access to the contact details of their parishioners will need to undertake to comply with privacy requirements, and ensure parishioners are given the option to unsubscribe from any email lists.
Currently a maximum of 10 people are allowed to attend a church at any given time for private prayer, confession or Mass.
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