The Bishop said that's not good enough. He stated that the severity of this epidemic was not serious enough to eschew physical communion; that the faithful were required to TAKE communion in the hand.
So, in spite of the congregation having come up with a peaceful solution to the non-distribution by tongue, the Bishop said it's not good enough and is forcing people to communion in the hand.
There's more to this story than just non-compliance, or disobedience. There is also the matter of the Bishop thumbing his nose at the CDW which the voice of the Pope in the matters of liturgy. The Pope is the highest legislator in the Church. The Congregation is his right arm. Church liability ranks below this blatant and scandalous action against the office of the Pope.
Wow, I didn’t know that. Good heavens. Any bishop who does that is violating the canonical rights of the faithful. Anti-papal, he is, and a power-freak to boot.
Evidence, please. This sounds like utter nonsense. Roman Catholics are not required to take communion every time they attend mass (last I heard it's required only once a year), so I highly doubt that any bishop is "forcing" them to take communion in any particular form, since there's no basis for forcing them to take it at all. What he may have done is insist that the priests *offer* communion by hand, since otherwise (given the lack of sufficient cause for resorting to only "spiritual communion") these masses would not be including any opportunity for valid communion.