Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wait for the broadcast to start at the Conference Center Theater on Temple Square in Salt Lake City during general conference on Saturday, October 3, 2020.2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
SALT LAKE CITY — For the third straight time, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ upcoming general conference will be virtual only. The announcement was made by the church’s top leaders Thursday morning.
In a press release, the First Presidency wrote, “As a worldwide organization, we have an obligation to be good citizens and to act with caution as it relates to such a unique setting as general conference, which traditionally brings thousands of visitors to Salt Lake City from around the globe,”
The April proceedings will mirror last year’s biannual sessions of the general conference. The broadcast will originate from a small theater instead of the 21,000 seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Only the speakers and their spouses for a given session will be present in the meeting, and the music will be prerecorded from previous general conferences.
The Church has taken a proactive approach to preventing the spread of COVID-19. As the pandemic spread across the world, leaders canceled meetings, closed temples, and restricted other activities.
Tuesday, eight of the Church’s top over the age of 70 received a COVID-19 vaccine. All three members of the First Presidency and five members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and most of their spouses received the first dose of the shot.
The First Presidency later released a statement encouraging its members, employees and missionaries to be good global citizens and help quell the pandemic by receiving the immunization
All sessions of the April 2021 conference will be streamed live on The Church’s website, social media accounts and apps. They will also be broadcast on News Talk KVNU.
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