Some Megachurches Are Still Packing In CrowdsThe River Church in Tampa, Florida, also held services this Sunday. Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne posted a livestream of the services on YouTube, showing the sizable crowd. Howard-Browne said attendees were practicing "social distancing, or whatever" though the crowd appeared to be dense.
"We are not a non-essential service," Howard-Browne said during the service. "You're probably going to get infected at some other place, not here."
The pastor condemned scientific reports about the virus and said that the pandemic was of less concern than the flu, a view that medical experts have disputed. The church did not respond to a request for comment.