Easter 2019 2019 2020 March 1 Change in Sunday foot traffic at religious institutions March 15 Compared with the first Sunday of 2019 Easter 2020 Easter 2019 2019 2020 March 1 Change in Sunday foot traffic at religious institutions March 15 Compared with the first Sunday of 2019 Easter 2020 Easter 2019 2019 2020 March 1 Change in Sunday foot traffic at religious institutions March 15 Easter 2020 Compared with the first Sunday of 2019 March 22 Easter 2019 2019 2020 March 1 Change in Sunday foot traffic at religious institutions March 15 Compared with the first Sunday of 2019 March 22 Easter 2020

Cellphone data tracking Americans’ behavior shows that the vast majority of people who might normally be in church stayed away on Easter, the day churches often pull in their highest attendance of the year.

Americans’ attendance at Sunday religious services began dropping dramatically in early March, according to a Washington Post analysis of mobile location data provided by SafeGraph, a company that aggregates location data from tens of millions of devices and compares it with building footprints of all types, including grocery stores, schools and religious organizations.

By then, many states had started to restrict large gatherings, and several denominations had halted in-person worship services in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Religious attendance plummeted during Lent Percentage change in religious attendance, 2020 vs. equivalent Sunday in 2019 Higher attendance Lower attendance 80% No decline 40% decline In mid-March the Utah-based Mormon Church halted services. March 15 D.C. March 22 D.C. Calif. issued the first statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. April 12 (Easter Sunday) D.C. W.Va. lagged other states, possibly because of drive-in services. Religious attendance plummeted during Lent Percentage change in religious attendance, 2020 vs. equivalent Sunday in 2019 Higher attendance Lower attendance 80% No decline 40% decline In mid-March the Utah-based Mormon Church halted services. March 15 D.C. March 22 D.C. Calif. issued the first statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. April 12 (Easter Sunday) D.C. W.Va. lagged other states, possibly because of drive-in services. Religious attendance plummeted during Lent Percentage change in religious attendance, 2020 vs. equivalent Sunday in 2019 Higher attendance Lower attendance 40% No decline 20% decline 60% 80% 100% In mid-March the Utah-based Mormon Church halted services. March 15 March 22 D.C. D.C. Calif. issued the first statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. April 12 (Easter Sunday) W.Va. lagged other states, possibly because of drive-in services. D.C. Religious attendance plummeted during Lent Percentage change in religious attendance, 2020 vs. equivalent Sunday in 2019 Lower attendance Higher attendance 40% 60% No decline 20% decline 80% 100% In mid-March the Utah-based Mormon Church halted services. March 15 March 22 D.C. D.C. Calif. issued the first statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. April 12 (Easter Sunday) W.Va. lagged other states, possibly because of drive-in services. D.C. Religious attendance plummeted during Lent Percentage change in religious attendance, 2020 vs. equivalent Sunday in 2019 Higher attendance Lower attendance No decline 20% decline 40% 60% 80% 100% March 15 March 22 April 12 (Easter Sunday) D.C. D.C. D.C. In mid-March the Utah-based Mormon Church halted services. Calif. issued the first statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. W.Va. lagged other states, possibly because of drive-in services.

State leaders’ bans on mass gatherings have been controversial in some states, including Kansas, Kentucky and Wisconsin, and churches across the country have filed lawsuits challenging restrictions.

Despite some protests, the vast majority of churches nationwide have shut down, and people largely stayed home in the first weeks of April. Only 3 percent of typical churchgoers said in a PRRI poll that they would attend in-person Easter services on April 12, while 61 percent said they would participate online or on TV.

The mobile data shows how religious attendance changed in each state. For instance, in Utah, which has a high percentage of Mormons, attendance dropped on March 15 after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints halted public worship services worldwide; the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City also suspended public Mass.



People worship during a drive-in-style church service at the Glasgow Farm on Easter Sunday in Fredericksburg, Va. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

The state of Georgia saw the largest drop in church attendance on Easter Sunday, an estimated 90 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to an analysis of SafeGraph data. The state, which is one of the most religious in the country, is home to several high-profile megachurches, many of which hosted services online even before the coronavirus pandemic or had resources to move virtually once restrictions were in place.

[Governments around the world are trying a new weapon against coronavirus: Your smartphone]

The shift has been a struggle for churches that have older members, including First Baptist Atlanta, which has several thousand members, said member Ruth Malhotra. Leaders had to warn members in an email that the church doors would be locked after receiving a high volume of calls asking if the church would hold in-person services.

The church, which had never held online services before, asked people to take pictures of themselves with their Communion table setup and send them in so other members could see them, Malhotra said. “A lot of people are not accustomed to engaging like that,” she said. “As we see more and more of the older generation on social media because of their grandkids and wanting to see pictures, it helps.”

[How the world celebrated Easter during the covid-19 pandemic]

Online platforms that host church services have seen a huge spike in activity. Since March 1, 25,000 new churches have signed up for the free online platform that Life.Church in Oklahoma created, a spokeswoman for the church said. As churches used a variety of platforms like Zoom and Facebook, 10 million unique devices alone joined Life.Church’s “Church Online” platform on Easter.

Easter was also the most active day ever for YouVersion, a Bible app that Life.Church developed. During the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, the app saw 14.1 million Bible verses shared, a 30 percent increase from the same week in 2019.



The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington holds a live-streamed Mass on Easter Sunday during the covid-19 pandemic. (Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post)

The mobile data showed that some people still gathered at their houses of worship. West Virginia’s Easter Sunday attendance saw the smallest drop — 70 percent — between 2019 and 2020, according to SafeGraph data. Some pastors in the state, which like Georgia is considered highly religious, believe that may be because drive-in services were a popular choice for churches.

[A West Virginia church spends Easter making masks, other PPE using 3-D printers]

Paul Chapman, senior pastor of Beckley Praise Church in Beckley, W.Va., said he chose to have drive-in services for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday even though members could stay at home and watch services on Facebook.

“It was a way for people to get out of the house,” said Chapman, who conducted the services inside the locked building while cars filled the parking lot. “Even though they didn’t have contact with each other, they could wave. Some of our older people hadn’t been out of the house since the governor’s order.”

Chapman signed a contract to broadcast the services on an AM and FM station, a popular option for the older members who attended the services in their cars, and members either listened on the radio station or watched on Facebook on their mobile devices.

As governors across the country started issuing stay-at-home orders and shut down schools and businesses, churches began to follow. Several pastors who spoke to The Post said they made their decisions to stop services based on when the schools in their areas closed.

Are places of worship affected by state-ordered lockdowns? No state lockdown or lockdown with religious exemption Lockdown with limited religious exemption Lockdown includes religious organizations Religious exemption unclear/disputed, or lockdown orders vary within state D.C. Data as of April 9 Are places of worship affected by state-ordered lockdowns? No state lockdown or lockdown with religious exemption Lockdown with limited religious exemption Lockdown includes religious organizations Religious exemption unclear/disputed, or lockdown orders vary within state D.C. Data as of April 9 Are places of worship affected by state-ordered lockdowns? No state lockdown or lockdown with religious exemption Lockdown with limited religious exemption Lockdown includes religious organizations Religious exemption unclear/disputed, or lockdown orders vary within state WASH. MAINE N.D. MONT. VT. MINN. ORE. N.H. WIS. IDAHO MASS. S.D. N.Y. —R.I. MICH. WYO. CONN. PENN. IOWA N.J. NEV. NEB. OHIO MD. DEL. IND. ILL. UTAH D.C. W.VA. COLO. VA. CALIF. KAN. MO. KY. N.C. TENN. OKLA. ARIZ. ARK. S.C. N.M. ALA. MISS. GA. LA. TEXAS FLA. ALASKA HAWAII Data as of April 9

As some Americans have expressed a high desire to restart religious services soon, one Catholic diocese in New Mexico announced this week that it will become the first diocese to reopen churches for limited public Mass, despite the governor’s stay-at-home orders and recommendations to not hold gatherings.

About this story

Data for this story was provided by SafeGraph, a company that aggregates location data from tens of millions of devices and compares it with building footprints. The number of mobile devices recorded fluctuates, so The Post normalized the data according to how many devices reported each day. SafeGraph determined how many devices “visited” religious organizations according to the definition by the North American Industry Classification System.

State lockdown and religious exemption data sourced from Religion News Service.