Covid-19 & Zoom Meetings

On March 16, 2020, the California Department of Public Health released new guidance on the prevention of COVID-19 transmission. The Department has found that all non-essential gatherings should be postponed or canceled until further guidance is provided. All Masonic gatherings are non-essential in the context of this guidance. Based on the foregoing, Grand Master John Trauner directed that there be no Masonic gatherings of any kind in this state until further direction is received. 

During this time Lodges across the State of California made the best of the current situation, and like many Lodges, the Conejo Masons looked for ways to stay virtually connected. This included Zoom meetings, phone calls, and other virtual messaging. The brothers also looked to each other for support, and whenever possible they lend a helping hand to those in need. The masons of California proved that even at a distance, we could help each other and make the world a better place. 

On April 14, 2021, Grand Master Arthur Weiss issued a Reopening Directive, which allowed Masonic lodges to resume holding in-person meetings and events, as long as those meetings and events met the requirements imposed by the California Department of Public Health and local health departments. On June 2nd, 2021, Grand Master Arthur Weiss reported that the California Department of Public Health intends on June 15, 2021 to lift all of its restrictions imposed upon meetings an events, except for events that exceed 5,000 people. In accordance to this potential ruling, ordered Masonic Lodges, Masonic Organizations, and Youth Orders may conduct in-person meetings and events in compliance with county and city restrictions, if any. (After June 15, individual counties and cities could choose to continue their own meeting limitations, in which case those limitations would continue in force.) This directions came with several other guidance too.