The National Cathedral, along with a number of other area churches, has moved all of its Christmas services online as D.C. and its suburbs experience an unprecedented spike in new COVID-19 cases.

“These numbers cause me to reflect on the moral responsibility of this Cathedral during this difficult time,” wrote Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith in a letter announcing the change. “As one of the largest churches in America, we routinely welcome more than 15,000 people to celebrate the Christmas holiday. However, given the spike in infections, I simply cannot justify gathering massive crowds as the public health situation worsens around us.”

The Cathedral plans to return to in-person worship at reduced capacity on Jan. 9.

Other local churches have made similar decisions in the days leading up to Christmas.

On Tuesday, staff at All Souls Church Unitarian in Northwest D.C. sent an email to the church community announcing plans to cancel its in-person Christmas Eve pageant and Christmas Eve service, opting instead to hold the events over Zoom.

“This week, we met with and heard concerns expressed by a small group of lay leaders who are physicians, active in their respective fields, and involved with helping to shape Covid policy for the Federal Government,” they wrote. “Their medical advice and opinion was sobering. Their advice to us was to avoid all large, in-person gatherings.”

The church will opt for virtual services through the end of January.

“Because we believe that the worst of this most recent Covid spike is yet to come,” the staff wrote, “we are returning to Zoom services, beginning December 26th and through January 30th, 2022.”

First Baptist Church of Glenarden, a large congregation in Prince George’s County, has also closed its building and stopped in-person activities in response to the rise in cases. On Wednesday, the church announced that it would halt its in-person worship until further notice.

“Out of an abundance of caution and concern for your safety and well-being, all ministry activities and worship services will be held online until further notice,” says a note on the church’s website.

The flurry of changes, announced just days before Christmas, are evidence of just how quickly new COVID-19 cases have been rising in the D.C. area. Still, many area churches and other houses of worship are well-prepared for the shift, having spent many months during the pandemic in online-only formats.

Last holiday season, during another winter COVID-19 surge that the region weathered without vaccines being available to the public, Pastor John Jenkins of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden told WAMU/DCist that going online to keep his congregation safe did not detract from the church’s mission.

“If churches need a physical worship building to do the work of ministry, they need to reevaluate how they do in ministry because the church is not the building,” said Jenkins.

Federal health officials have said they expect that the spread of the remarkably contagious omicron variant will lead to unprecedented case numbers, but it’s unclear how many of the people who get infected will become seriously sick from the virus. Health experts say that people who are vaccinated — and particularly those who have received booster shots — are likely significantly protected against serious illness from omicron, while unvaccinated people are far more susceptible. DC Health officials have cautioned that even if only a small percentage of cases become severe, many people in the region could fall seriously ill if the virus continues to spread at alarming rates. Hospital capacity could also become a concern, experts warn, as health care facilities battle staffing shortages, COVID-19 patients, and patients with other serious illnesses.

“As the world shifts around us, I believe we need to be responsible and responsive,” wrote Hollerith, of the National Cathedral, in his letter. “It is better to pause now and celebrate later than to celebrate now and be filled with regret later.”