Law and religion round-up – 12th December

“Legislation on mask-wearing is seemingly contradictory in places”

Diocese of Oxford

An initial response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, (B.1.1.529), has been to require the wearing of face coverings in “relevant places” defined by regulations; these have now been amended to include places of worship and the Church of England has updated its 13-page guidance COVID-19 Opening and managing church buildings, v 2.3.  Whilst for some this has been a TL;DR item, it is more informative than the brief but tortuous legalese of the “Face Covering Regulations (Amended)” Regulations, which states:

“(5) In regulation 5 [of the principal Regulations], after paragraph (i), insert — (j)it is reasonably necessary for P to sing, and P removes P’s face covering to do so, and for these purposes, the occasions when it is reasonably necessary for P to sing include singing as part of a choir, or during a service or rehearsal, or for performance. Continue reading