Let's talk about Baitcon....
Mar. 25th, 2021 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chhotii posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
baitconI wish to make a couple of points:
1) By this spring, a number of us will have been vaccinated.
2) Scientists say that one is much less likely to catch COVID-19 outdoors than indoors, all other things being equal.
Look: Last summer, there were massive George Floyd protests, thousands of people gathering to protest, and these caused no discernible blip on the COVID rates. Why? Those events were outdoors. People were not idiots. People tried to keep space between themselves and people they don't live with, and 99% wore masks correctly. OTOH, many other events, events attended by people in denial, were superspreader events. Why? People gathered indoors, hugged, shook hands, and didn't wear masks.
I believe we can have a Baitcon this year. It would probably have to look a little different. I understand that not everyone will have been vaccinated by late June or whenever. Here's what I imagine we would have to modify:
1) Social distancing as the default expectation. No getting within a couple of feet of people you don't already hang out with regularly without the kind of discussion and consent-giving that you would usually require before more intimate interaction.
2) Masks. We all know how to wear masks now, yes? Yes.
3) Servers in the food line rather than everyone touches the food
4) Dishes are drop-and-go, with volunteers taking dish-washing shifts, rather than we stand elbow to elbow to do our individual dishes (yes I am willing to do dish-washing shifts)
5) Orderly ice cream service, rather than the mosh pit of ice cream grabbing (some of us might actually like this change)
6) Probably fewer flavors of ice cream, to make this feasible. Some large batches of proven known favorites.
7) Up to the last minute and beyond refund policy (before saying "that's financially infeasible", talk to me, let's discuss ideas?)
8) Only one family group at a time in a shower area
If, as the time approaches, the numbers in the news are making us feel ooky about all this, we could step up the precautions even further:
9) PCR testing beforehand for anyone not vaccinated yet?
10) Close every other toilet stall?
11) Wait outside in line for sinks?
I know, ugh, I'm sure we all wish that things could be exactly the same as they always were. Might not yet be possible for us to party like it's 2019. But I'd rather do a Baitcon with the above modifications than have yet another weekend at home, looking at the same damn four walls as the previous 375 or so days of March so far.
Discuss?
1) By this spring, a number of us will have been vaccinated.
2) Scientists say that one is much less likely to catch COVID-19 outdoors than indoors, all other things being equal.
Look: Last summer, there were massive George Floyd protests, thousands of people gathering to protest, and these caused no discernible blip on the COVID rates. Why? Those events were outdoors. People were not idiots. People tried to keep space between themselves and people they don't live with, and 99% wore masks correctly. OTOH, many other events, events attended by people in denial, were superspreader events. Why? People gathered indoors, hugged, shook hands, and didn't wear masks.
I believe we can have a Baitcon this year. It would probably have to look a little different. I understand that not everyone will have been vaccinated by late June or whenever. Here's what I imagine we would have to modify:
1) Social distancing as the default expectation. No getting within a couple of feet of people you don't already hang out with regularly without the kind of discussion and consent-giving that you would usually require before more intimate interaction.
2) Masks. We all know how to wear masks now, yes? Yes.
3) Servers in the food line rather than everyone touches the food
4) Dishes are drop-and-go, with volunteers taking dish-washing shifts, rather than we stand elbow to elbow to do our individual dishes (yes I am willing to do dish-washing shifts)
5) Orderly ice cream service, rather than the mosh pit of ice cream grabbing (some of us might actually like this change)
6) Probably fewer flavors of ice cream, to make this feasible. Some large batches of proven known favorites.
7) Up to the last minute and beyond refund policy (before saying "that's financially infeasible", talk to me, let's discuss ideas?)
8) Only one family group at a time in a shower area
If, as the time approaches, the numbers in the news are making us feel ooky about all this, we could step up the precautions even further:
9) PCR testing beforehand for anyone not vaccinated yet?
10) Close every other toilet stall?
11) Wait outside in line for sinks?
I know, ugh, I'm sure we all wish that things could be exactly the same as they always were. Might not yet be possible for us to party like it's 2019. But I'd rather do a Baitcon with the above modifications than have yet another weekend at home, looking at the same damn four walls as the previous 375 or so days of March so far.
Discuss?
