A Florida county has backed off enforcing a “safer-at-home” policy forbidding religious services during the coronavirus pandemic after the governor declared such activities as “essential business.”
On Thursday, facing potential legal action, a county attorney told the Hillsborough Emergency Policy Group that the governor’s exemption of religious services from his “safer-at-home” order trumped their local stay-at-home stricture passed a week earlier, which had led to the arrest of a local megachurch pastor.
“We are pleased that The River at Tampa Bay Church can meet,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of nonprofit law firm Liberty Council. “This church is essential to the community.”
Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested Monday after dozens of people packed into his church — violating a six-foot social distancing rule encouraged by the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and mandated by Hillsborough County.
On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide order for residents to stay at home but allowed for places of worship to hold services.
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