Kwan Um School of Zen Pandemic Advisory Group
End-of-Year Statement
December 2020
At the behest of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees for the Kwan Um School of Zen Americas, this advisory group was formed with the charge of offering to Kwan Um Zen Centers and sitting groups recommendations on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We begin this statement with a deep expression of sympathy and compassion for the individuals who have suffered illness and those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. We offer this on behalf of our Kwan Um School sangha and our larger sangha, the whole world.
It is our conclusion that, due to an increase in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and rates of positive tests, our centers and groups in affected countries should avoid in-person practice for at least the next few months, or until local public health officials deem indoor, small-group gatherings safe. Centers and groups should err on the side of safety and seek to model best-practice risk-prevention and not merely comply with minimum standards.
Our last document was issued in May, when cases worldwide were rising and much was still unknown about the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We advised centers and groups to avoid in-person practice and to continue with virtual meetings. Since that time – over the period of summer in the northern hemisphere – many countries and states in the U.S. saw a significant drop in cases, hospitalizations and rates of positive Covid-19 tests. As a result, many of our centers, following local public health advice, resumed in-person practice, albeit with necessary precautions.
Today, we are seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases across much of the world – especially in the United States. This disease is transmitted mainly as airborne particles and that crowded, poorly ventilated settings present the most risk. As the cold weather comes to the northern hemisphere, more social activity will move indoors. And the approaching holidays likely will mean more indoor socializing. Some experts are concerned that these circumstances will make it difficult to control the spread of the virus in the short term.
We are recommending that centers and groups avoid in-person practice for now. Given the variability of the pandemic, it may be safe in some locations to continue or resume in-person gatherings indoors or outdoors. We ask that center leadership groups work with local health officials and go beyond minimum requirements so that Kwan Um School of Zen centers lead the way in caring for their sanghas and communities and all the beings we vow each day to save.
To assist leadership groups in determining whether it is safe and/or appropriate to conduct in-person practice, a decision-tree document for religious groups developed by the World Health Organization may be helpful. It is available here.
At this writing, there have been nearly 56 million Covid-19 cases worldwide and more than 1.3 million deaths. This pandemic has been a hard lesson in our interdependence. While there are good prospects for effective vaccines in 2021, the impact of this pandemic will be felt for years in the grief, physical disability, mental health issues and economic devastation it will have left in its wake. Therefore, our practice – online for now – must continue to be strong and supportive in order to help this world and build a better future.
Kwan Um School of Zen Pandemic Advisory Group
Initial Statement
May 22, 2020
At the behest of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees for the Kwan Um School of Zen Americas, this advisory group was formed with the charge of offering to Kwan Um Zen Centers and sitting groups recommendations on responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic and managing the eventual resumption of their customary activities. Based upon our initial discussions we offer the following
Because of significant scientific and medical uncertainties and lack of knowledge regarding the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and its deleterious impacts upon human health and well-being, the advisory group recommends that all in-person practice and events remain suspended for the time being.
We recognize that residential Zen Centers face a unique challenge and have perforce instituted major alterations to daily life and practice to keep their residents safe. We would be happy to address any specific questions they may have. We also recognize that limited outdoor activities that follow meticuously public health mandates may be conducted with considerably less (but not zero) risk to human health. Our recommendation primarily concerns in-person practice and related activities taking place indoors that are open to individuals who live outside of a Zen Center.
On a more hopeful note, we believe that within months medical and scientific understanding and data regarding the COVID-19 virus will have evolved to the point where it can be used effectively to guide and manage a gradual resumption of in-person practice and related activities at Kwan Um Zen Centers and sitting groups.
We will meet regularly to review the ongoing expansion of scientific and medical insight into the COVID-19 virus and its human health risks with the goal of revising this difficult recommendation as soon as possible. We offer on the following page some of the specific concerns underlying this initial statement.
Finally, many Kwan Um Zen Centers swiftly pivoted to online offerings this spring as they closed for
in-person practice. It has been gratifying to witness and participate in this amazing effort. We believe the Kwan Um School of Zen’s online presence and offerings will be critical in the coming months for helping our sangha cope with the serious and still unfolding consequences of the pandemic: economic loss, social isolation and quarantining, and continued uncertainty and anxiety about our collective future.
In the dharma,
Catherine DeGood, MD. Providence Zen Center
Bruce Silva, MD. Cochise Zen Center
Kevin Smith, DO. Ten Directions Zen Center
James Calvin, PhD. Cape Cod Zen Center
Ames Colt, PhD. Providence Zen Center
Epidemiology is a science of possibilities and persuasion, not of certainties or hard proof . . . . Epidemiologists must persuade people to upend their lives—to forego travel and socializing, to submit themselves to blood draws and immunization shots—even when there’s scant evidence that they’re directly at risk. – Charles Duhigg, New Yorker: May 4, 2020
The United States has begun a phased resumption of normal activities, with state-based testing for the COVID-19 virus and its antibodies continuing to expand and research proceeding rapidly on how the virus is transmitted, treatment for COVID-19 disease, and development of a vaccine(s). But there is much we still don’t know about COVID-disease transmission and human health impacts.
What is clear is that customary Kwan UM Zen practice and retreats are high-risk settings for the spread of COVID-19 virus because we practice in close proximity to each other for extended periods of time in a enclosed space; and there are additional risks associated with communal eating and chanting.
The advisory group has major concerns regarding the efficacy of current testing regimes for the COVID-19 virus and its antibodies. A negative test result for the presence of the COVID-19 virus, normal body temperature readings, and the absence of other symptoms does not ensure that an individual is not infected with COVID-19 and hence capable of transmitting it to others.
Asymptomatic spread of the COVID-19 virus significantly increases the rate of community spread, and a high percentage of COVID-19 infected individuals are asymptomatic. A recent study in Iceland indicated that up to 50% of individuals infected with the COVID-19 virus are asymptomatic. Draft CDC guidance released this week estimates that the percentage of COVID-19 infections which are asymptomatic ranges from 20-50%, with best professional judgment estimates equaling 35%.[1]
To my knowledge, [a high percentage of asymptomatic carriers] is quite uncommon for a virus and is not a good sign. If you're able to transmit the virus while asymptomatic, it allows for a lot more community spread. For other viruses, you're not contagious until you have symptoms, so it's easier to screen for the disease and limit these chains of infection. COVID-19 is proving much harder to contain.[2] - Dr. Gigi Gronvall, J. Hopkins University
As a new disease,[3] the short-term and long-term impacts of COVID-19 disease have yet to be fully characterized scientifically and medically. COVID-19 disease is highly transmissible, more so than influenza but not as readily as measles. While the lungs are the organs most affected by COVID-19 (with both lungs rapidly infected), it may also deleteriously affect the gastrointestinal organs, heart and cardiovascular system, and kidneys. There are also health conditions and risk factors that significantly increase the risk of an individual falling seriously ill due to COVID-19. Please visit
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/groups-at-higher-risk.html for a list of these conditions and factors and related information.
While case fatality rates are significantly elevated for individuals seventy years of age and older, significant increases in these rates are occurring in individuals aged fifty to fifty-nine. Given that our sangha members tend to be older, higher case fatality rates in older people are a major consideration for Zen Center decisions regarding re-opening. Finally, while many who contract COVID-19 disease recover fully, there are initial indications of permanent damage to the lungs in individuals who recover, possibly regardless of their age.[4]
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html
[2] Excerpted from: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-asymptomatic-covid-harder.html
See also: https://www.sciencealert.com/a-physician-answers-5-questions-about-asymptomatic-covid-19
[3] The information in this paragraph is drawn primarily from the COVID-19 disease Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019