According to manuscripts by John Stow kept at Lambeth Library, weekly bills of mortality for 1563 show the first 17 recorded plague deaths for the week ending 12 June.[1] Elizabeth began coordinating a government response to the epidemic by communicating orders to her people through the Church. Churchwardens and curates were instructed to tell parishioners staying with those sick with plague not to come to church until several weeks after they recover. Strict countermeasures were taken at the local level to combat the epidemic such as painting blue crosses on the houses of the infected and government orders to kill and bury all stray cats and dogs "for the avoidance of plague," with special officers appointed to carry out the cull.[7]