Quizbowl in the Time of COVID

[Stained Diviner]

Does anybody have ideas on how to set policies for a return to in person quizbowl?

I think the two main issues are masks and vaccines.

In Illinois and some other states, the masks issue is very simple. Everybody has to wear a mask if you are holding the competition at a school. I am curious to find out whether anybody is going beyond what is mandated in their area, which would mean requiring masks even though you are at a host school that does not require them. I am also curious to find out whether anybody is having moderators wear see-through masks.

The vaccine issue, on the other hand, is not so simple. Students and staff are generally not required to be vaccinated, though the number of places with a teacher mandate is slowly increasing. Furthermore, at least at my school, teachers and coaches are being told not to ask students their vaccination status. (My school and the district it is in are generally pro-vaccine.) Furthermore, about 2% of the population is not supposed to get vaccinated for legitimate reasons. Is anybody requiring staffers to be vaccinated? Coaches? Students? If so, are tournaments verifying vaccination status or going by the honor system? Also, what accommodations are being made for people told by their doctor not to get vaccinated?

I am asking in part because I am still figuring out how to handle the vaccination piece myself, though I think it would be helpful for many of us to hear what people have to say on this.

[Halinaxus]

On a similar topic, how much do masks impact quiz bowl?

I haven't tried playing (or moderating) with a mask yet, but I know at least a few tournaments have happened with them (particularly ACF Nationals). I presume the main issue would be enunciation, since masks tend to muffle one's voice. I doubt it would be that debilitating for players, although it might be a problem for long and/or complicated answerlines. Mask-induced muffling does seem like it would be much more of a concern for moderaters, though.

Perhaps face shields could be used to mitigate this issue?

[Sima Guang Hater]

Perhaps face shields could be used to mitigate this issue?

Face shields do not provide adequate protection

The current CDC guidelines found here currently recommend universal masking in school settings, even for fully vaccinated people (much like Illinois seems to require). This seems like the least that should be mandated for players at a tournament.

The issue of universal vaccination is more interesting and less clear-cut. Given that this isn't an ordinary school setting, and that students travelling from other locations have the potential to carry the disease with them, I would personally support a vaccine mandate for every student and staffer (in addition to the mask mandate). Schools and state health boards have records of vaccination, which can be easily obtained by students and collected by a TD with some planning and effort. Considering schools already collect vaccination data, and that data can be severed from the rest of a person's medical record, this shouldn't be an issue. The legal aspects of this, however, are well above my pay grade.

I've heard a lot of questions about immunocompromised people and the vaccine. The latest guidelines from the American College of Rheumatology for patients on immunosuppression actually suggest still getting the vaccine if you're immunocompromised because it's not a live vaccine and is thus safe in immunocompromised people. There's similar guidance for cancer patients. However, there is plenty of literature talking about how immunocompromised people may not generate a response to the vaccine, and thus won't have great protection (but at least it's something). Thus, if these people want to play (which, like everything else in an immunocompromised person, is a careful choice that should be made with family and medical professionals), they should be required to show proof as well.

Finally, and this is an important point that gets lost, there are very few legitimate medical reasons to not get the vaccine (allergy to the components is really the only one, and even that's questionable). You should obviously talk to your doctor about it, but the guidelines are pretty clear that the vaccine can be taken by basically anyone (and to be frank I've seen some fairly questionable guidance from PCPs and other providers on this issue). For those students that really do have a legitimate contraindication to the vaccine, a doctor's note should probably suffice.

TLDR: Everyone masks and everyone gets vaccinated.

[Cheynem]

The medicine, science, and legal aspects of this are above my pay grade.

Above all we need coordination. We cannot afford to have a haphazard collection of policies in quizbowl about masks, vaccination, and a COVID response in general. For the most part, we did pretty good during 2020 at the height of the pandemic. As we resume in person, while listening to local public health regulations is key, quizbowl should also strive to offer some consistency. We do not want this to be very difficult for both players and schools, both hosts and attendees.

We must also seriously consider the issues of enforcement and exemptions. Quizbowlers and their schools and coaches are human--we are going to get some pushback. We must think about how to handle things like coaches being lazy or forgetting to turn in vaccination proof, students saying they lost or can't find their vax cards, concerns about privacy, and things like "a spectator/coach/player shows up at the tournament who did not turn in vaccination data." In many cases, you will probably correctly say there are clear answers and I would generally agree. But we need to think of answers and solutions now, and not later.

In short, we can't afford to get blindsided by this.

[Ben Dillon]

Schools and state health boards have records of vaccination, which can be easily obtained by students and collected by a TD with some planning and effort. Considering schools already collect vaccination data, and that data can be severed from the rest of a person's medical record, this shouldn't be an issue. The legal aspects of this, however, are well above my pay grade.

Can this be easily obtained? We didn't require vaccinations at our school (we also don't currently have a mask mandate), and we're not allowed to ask students their status directly. Our nurse went one-by-one through the CHIRP database to compile an overall vaccinated percentage.

Is this a state-by-state thing?

[Sima Guang Hater]

Schools and state health boards have records of vaccination, which can be easily obtained by students and collected by a TD with some planning and effort. Considering schools already collect vaccination data, and that data can be severed from the rest of a person's medical record, this shouldn't be an issue. The legal aspects of this, however, are well above my pay grade.

Can this be easily obtained? We didn't require vaccinations at our school (we also don't currently have a mask mandate), and we're not allowed to ask students their status directly. Our nurse went one-by-one through the CHIRP database to compile an overall vaccinated percentage.

Is this a state-by-state thing?

All states have a database of immunization records, from where you or your parents can request your records. I dunno what legal issues there are for asking students directly as a faculty person or school official.

[Ben Dillon]

All states have a database of immunization records, from where you or your parents can request your records. I dunno what legal issues there are for asking students directly as a faculty person or school official.

I apologize. I incorrectly inferred that you meant the coach could easily obtain the vaccination records of their players to hand in to a TD.

However, I'm still left with a problem. I'm not allowed to ask my players their vaccination status, but if I ask them to bring their cards with them for a tournament, I think I'd be under fire from my principal for forcing a student to reveal their status, either through them attending with the card or declining to go. It'd be a trick to tell students that if they do not want to disclose that they are unvaccinated, they shouldn't say that when they decline.

I think that most unvaccinated students wouldn't care if I knew, but their parents are a different story. The more vehement parents will be upset that their children won't be able to take part. (That part I can deal with, because I can simply say that we don't control the rules for attending those tourneys.)