◼ COVID-19 / US Bloomberg Businessweek March 16, 202048
SALVATORE LAPORTA/SIPA/AP PHOTO○ In Milan, churches sit empty as the faithful fol-
low Mass on television. And with five months
to go before Islam’s most sacred pilgrimage, it’s
unclear if Saudi Arabia will reopen holy sites to
millions of foreign Muslims. Able-bodied believ-
ers are required to make the 10-day hajj, set for
late July and August, once in their lives. Visas for
the umrah, a shorter pilgrimage that can be made
throughout the year, have been suspended.
Religion asks people not only to gather together,
but often to touch and share food. Now everyday
rites and traditions are being interrupted. Some▲ A sanitation sweep at
Basilica San Domenico
Maggiore in NaplesHow will we worship?
synagogues in the U.S. have discouraged hugging
or kissing to greet one another—one in New Jersey
suggests a slight bow at the hips or a friendly wave
when saying “Shabbat shalom.” In Hong Kong,
some churches took away hymnals to minimize
contact with possibly contaminated surfaces.
Others stopped singing, to limit the expelling of
droplets. Some Catholic dioceses in the U.S. told
parishes to suspend offering wine for communion.
A religious group in South Korea was linked to a
spike in cases there. Some churches were also iden-
tified as coronavirus clusters in Singapore, where