By Jim Salter

The Associated Press

Bishop Floyd Williams knows that the coronavirus has proven especially lethal in the Black community, so his decision to reopen his End Times Christian Assembly in St. Louis comes with some trepidation.

Three groups representing Black St. Louis-area clergy are combining forces to distribute about 150,000 masks to churches that plan to open as early as next week.

The masks were provided by St. Louis city and county and by the state of Missouri at the request of Darryl Gray, a St. Louis activist and pastor.

“The Black church has been the surviving force for the Black community since slavery,” Gray said at the distribution site at a church in St. Louis County.

At Williams’ small church in the city, he plans many precautions beyond the free masks: Every other pew will remain empty.