Places of worship gearing up for in-person holiday services this year

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Places of worship are gearing up for in-person holiday services this year.

Calling the virus "a dark time" for the nation, Rev. Ricky Harvey of Mount Olivet Church, on Adams Street, says the brightness shining through is how people have reacted.

"People stayed home and they learned who they were they learned the gifts that God gave to them. I’ve never heard of so many businesses being started as are being started now,” Rev. Harvey said.

Harvey says his church is following COVID protocols, but there were also changes they never once thought about.

"Sanitizing, we have temperature checks, social distancing, and we turned our bathrooms into touchless, the water fountain everything is touchless," Harvey said.

Worshiping from home was also a challenge at first, but it’s now an option, especially for larger services around the holidays.

"We started out with green screens, and computers and all that but we have updated to great cameras and while we encourage you to come into the building you would get the same quality service,” he added.

Rev. Harvey says he anticipates the opportunity to hand out those free COVID test kits.