ASC Reopening Task Force – Notes from Meeting October 29, 2020

ToDo’s

Steve- write up recommendations to board regarding holiday bazaar

All – mark calendars for next meeting: Thursday Nov 12, 5PM

Attendees: George Carvill, Peter Gibbons, Jamie Gibson, Leslie Kinney, Steve Squires, Rev. Telos Whitfield

The Arts Committee requested our input on a possible art opening, with use of foyer and possibly hallway into west wing.  No refreshments.  So long as they follow existing protocols (max of 20 indoors, 20 outdoors, masks, 6 foot social distancing, sign-in/sign-out), we have no objections.

The Holiday Bazaar group is requesting a few exceptions for their event, which were discussed and will be recommended for approval by the board. We understand that the entire Bazaar will be held outdoors, and that patrons will generally not be entering the building (aside from inevitable bathroom visits). These recommendations apply only to the Bazaar, as a one-time event.

1 – the Bazaar may use the kitchen for minimal reheating of food, making coffee, etc.

• maximum of 3 people (masked) in the kitchen, maintaining proper social distancing, and mostly staying at their respective  work stations.
• the exhaust fan should be kept running for the duration, for better ventilation
• No customers in or near the kitchen.

2 – The Bazaar may allow up to 30 people outdoors (up from the usual 20), in recognition that many of these slots will be taken up by volunteers staffing the tables, and that customer flow is not easily controlled. Masks and social distancing are required.

3 – The Bazaar shall assign a person to be in charge of Covid-19 safety compliance

We discussed the current uptrend in Covid cases, which even here in relatively safe Windham County is approaching the 35 cases per 10,000 population stated as a Precondition in the current Phase 2 Reopening Plan.  Much has been learned about Covid transmission since first adopting that language, and we now already doing what we need to do to help contain the pandemic. We decided to recommend raising that number to 45, still a useful trigger to spur us to reconsider if the situation deteriorates further.

Steve suggested several technological approaches to consider, as the church finds ways to hold mixed gatherings of in-person and Zoom attendees.  Good news: the in-person bazaar crafters have successfully used several of their own smartphones to see (and be seen by) the Zoom attendees, without encountering serious bandwidth or acoustic feedback issues. The live attendees are presumably facing each other, with their phones (and microphones) facing them and thus outwards, away from other phones.

It may sometimes be useful to use a projector to display a Zoom screen where many people could see it. It may be helpful to have a set of computer speakers available, which can be much louder and of higher quality than those in laptops or smart phones. Microphones are a challenge, since passing them around violates safe distancing, and a central omnidirectional microphone may or may not be good enough to pick up the voices of masked people at a distance, well enough for Zoom attendees to hear clearly.