Minnesota places of worship operate at 50-percent capacity

Places of worship are still keeping safety a top priority even with opening their doors to more people

You for joining us ?

"* i'm calyn thompson.

For many people ?

"* going to church has looked a lot different over the past few months due to the pandemic.

With phase three of governor tim walz' stay safe minnesota order going into effect this week... places of worship now have looser restrictions.

Kimt news three's maleeha kamal shows us how church in rochester is still keeping safety a priority even while opening up their doors to more people.xxx look live: about 400 people walked through the doors of rochester of assembly of god.

Where members told me that safe measure like hand sanitizer makes them feel safe.

Phase three of reopening minnesota means churches like this are allowed to increase to 50?

"* percent capacity.

The overall maximum occupancy for any indoor or outdoor place remains at 250 people.

The church was able to accommodate a large number of worshippers with multiple services.

For some ?

"* more people means more germs which could be cause for concern.

Samuel: "you know my parents and i were a little bit worried at first but seeing there's a lot of sanitation and measures to stay healthier it has it keeped me a little more comforted."

Measures including hand sanitizer... a limit on how many people can be in the bathroom... and a station for clean and use pens.

You can see congregants socially distanced themselves from other families.

Some choose to wear masks while others opted not to.

Pastor john skipworth says while worship was their focus ?

"* safety and sanitizing were top priorities.

Pastor: "immediately after that worship experience we have to ask people to leave we create a 30 minute barrier we have to clean disinfect sanitize for 15 minutes and then the chemicals the cleaning solutions have to set for 10 minutes before the room is considered sanitized."

Look live: the pastor tells me that they are going to continue to monitor any safety measures that are updated and continue to implement them as needed.

In rochester maleeha kamal kimt news 3./// the minnesota department of health says the state will reopen in a four phase process.

We're still waiting on governor walz to announce