In 10 days, 6 Jacksonville church members die from COVID-19, pastor says

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – A pastor at the Jacksonville church said that in the past 10 days, six of its church members have died from COVID-19, and more of their members are currently in hospital.

Now the church is pushing to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

Senior Pastor George Davis of Impact Church in Arlington told News4Jax on Friday that his phone had not stopped ringing last week.

“In the past 10 days, we have had six members of our church who died from COVID. Four of them were under 35 years old. They were all healthy and the only thing they had in common was that they weren’t vaccinated, ”he said.

He says 15 to 20 members are now in the hospital, a dozen more are at home with the virus and three to five vaccinated members have also tested positive.

“It’s pain,” Davis said. “These are real people that I know, that I have led. A 24 year old child, I have known him since he was very young.

Davis said it was late July when they first learned that a member had tested positive. From there it was a cascade of more cases. Those who died, he says, were not in the hospital long before they died.

A d

During church services, Davis said the church needs masks, that the auditorium is thoroughly cleaned between services, that it practices social distancing and offers hand sanitizer.

Davis said on Friday that he was certain that after speaking with the families of those members, they contracted it somewhere outside the church.

Even though the church is following CDC guidelines, Davis is pushing to get more people vaccinated.

The church held a vaccination event in March where it said 800 people were vaccinated.

With the rise of the great Jacksonville community and its church, they are now hosting another event on Sunday. The event is open to the public.

“All I know is that the passion of my heart is to help the people I am called to serve and to do whatever I can to help them be in a healthier place,” said Davis said.

Davis encourages everyone to educate themselves and get vaccinated. The free vaccination event is Sunday at the church from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church is working with UF Health and offering the Pzifer vaccine.

A d

The first memorial service for the deceased members will take place this weekend.