A few people have raised questions and concerns about returning to practice at St. Andrew's, so I'd like to address them here. First, COVID safety. We do have members who can't get vaccinated or who live with people who can't. Obviously, we can't play bagpipes without spreading droplets into the air. Even if we were all vaccinated, we're also seeing reports of people who have been vaccinated getting the delta variant, so that's clearly not a 100% guarantee. Now, the venue is indoors (we've got the gym) and while we might open the doors, there's still not good enough air circulation to make it as relatively safe as the parking lot across from the park, where we've been practicing on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Sunday practices are continuing! The weather is still good and we haven't been shut down by the cops or the companies around the parking lot, so that's still our main practice. We're moving cautiously with the Tuesday night practice. Before the plague, that was our one and only weekly meeting, and many of us have missed that in-person practice. The school is opening up, and as part of that opening up we are regaining access to the facility at our customary time. However, things being as they are, this is a cautious reopening. We only have the gym for the moment, although they are considering the classrooms. The school resumes classes on Monday the 16th, and our first access to the gym is Tuesday the 17th. Remember, the students are, by and large, too young to be vaccinated and nobody wants to put them at high risk. The parents aren't even allowed out of their cars when picking up/dropping off their kids. It's our understanding that the kids won't even be using the gym, which is how we've got access. All this, of course, is subject to change based on instructions from the county or the school. So, the current situation is: a) Tuesday nights are *supplemental* practice b) Sunday is the main practice

Thanks for the update Stephen! Good to know. Sounds like option are few Regards John Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 9, 2021, at 9:55 AM, Stephen Beitzel via Allband <allband@lists.siliconvalleypipeband.org> wrote: > > A few people have raised questions and concerns about returning to practice at St. Andrew's, so I'd like to address them here. > > First, COVID safety. We do have members who can't get vaccinated or who live with people who can't. Obviously, we can't play bagpipes without spreading droplets into the air. Even if we were all vaccinated, we're also seeing reports of people who have been vaccinated getting the delta variant, so that's clearly not a 100% guarantee. Now, the venue is indoors (we've got the gym) and while we might open the doors, there's still not good enough air circulation to make it as relatively safe as the parking lot across from the park, where we've been practicing on Sunday. > > Meanwhile, the Sunday practices are continuing! The weather is still good and we haven't been shut down by the cops or the companies around the parking lot, so that's still our main practice. We're moving cautiously with the Tuesday night practice. Before the plague, that was our one and only weekly meeting, and many of us have missed that in-person practice. The school is opening up, and as part of that opening up we are regaining access to the facility at our customary time. However, things being as they are, this is a cautious reopening. We only have the gym for the moment, although they are considering the classrooms. > > The school resumes classes on Monday the 16th, and our first access to the gym is Tuesday the 17th. Remember, the students are, by and large, too young to be vaccinated and nobody wants to put them at high risk. The parents aren't even allowed out of their cars when picking up/dropping off their kids. It's our understanding that the kids won't even be using the gym, which is how we've got access. All this, of course, is subject to change based on instructions from the county or the school. > > So, the current situation is: > > a) Tuesday nights are *supplemental* practice > > b) Sunday is the main practice > _______________________________________________ > Allband mailing list -- allband@lists.siliconvalleypipeband.org > To unsubscribe send an email to allband-leave@lists.siliconvalleypipeband.org