Cooksville Sai Center Closed Until April 30

Sairam dear Sai families,

In an effort to ensure the health and safety of all devotees during the Coronavirus outbreak and in order to limit its rapid spread around the community, Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Cooksville will be CLOSED effective immediately from today March 15th to April 30th 2020. This includes suspending all Centre activities like devotional singing (regular bhajans), SSE classes, Study Circles, major Centre events, meetings, and all internal and external service activities.

Please see the message below from SSIO (Sathya Sai International Organization) regarding the immediate Closure of all Sai Centres until April 30th.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Jai Sai Ram,

Since our previous email regarding the CORONAVIRUS, we are now facing a Global Pandemic and now have cases of community transmission in Canada ( ie those who have no contact or travel history risk for COVID -19 ) . This means that we will now see more cases in the community and the rate of spread will be harder to contain. 
As an organization in the community, we must be part of the solution to slow the spread of the virus.  A previous email outlined the precautionary steps to be taken to help mitigate spread. This includes cancelling public gatherings / group events

Many individuals who have the virus will have no symptoms initially, and thus can spread the virus without knowing they have it. We cannot stop this pandemic now but we can help control the rate of spread . In Canada, we are still relatively low in the number of cases, so we have a chance to act. Taking key steps may avoid the rapid increase in cases that have occurred in other countries. Spain has now followed Italy with a rapid increase in number of cases and deaths. Pandemics such as this put a huge burden on the medical system, and have a high emotional cost to communities, families and individuals. Control of spread is key.

PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR CURRENT HEALTH CANADA RECOMMENDATIONS :
For communities
Social distancing measures are a way to minimize COVID-19 transmission in the community. This means minimizing close contact with others during the peak of an outbreak. In addition to staying home when ill, we should plan for actions we can take if we need to reduce the spread of infection in places where we gather.

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/being-prepared.html#a3

Therefore, at this time the most effective measures we can take as an organization is to cancel all public events and gatherings. 

In an effort to keep all devotees healthy and safe SSIO Canada and the Medical Team has decided to close all centres and suspend all its activities till April 30th 2020. This includes devotional singing, SSE classes, study circles, Center events, meetings, and all internal and external service activities. Centres can continue to hold teleconferences.

The decision to close all centres was taken after much deliberation, thought and consultation. All centres and DVGs are requested to comply to protect our Sai devotees, Sai community and the public at large. 

In addition  - In response to the evolving nature of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and concern for the health and safety of members, the Sathya Sai International Organization has decided to take the precaution of cancelling all the upcoming major SSIO events until June 15, 2020. This includes W4Vs and H V days celebrations where we expect public and large gathering of people. 

We will be monitoring and evaluating how things unfold and recommend accordingly. Please watch for bulletins and recommendations on a weekly basis.

The best way we can help ourselves, our families and our communities is to follow health Canada precautionary guidelines, continue to do our prayers at home, and serve elderly and families in need.