I was a crossing guard when I was in the 5th grade. As a student in the highest grade in my elementary school, I was chosen to stand watch over the crosswalk nearest my school during the mid-day transition between morning and afternoon Kindergarten classes. I wore a reflective sash/belt ensemble, I had a reflective crossing flag hanging on what reminded me of a broomstick, and I had learned the song to sing, “Left, Right, Left…Cross” that helped me be sure to look both ways before safely ushering the youngest students in my school across the street. I felt so special because I got to leave the school building during school hours! but also because I had a responsibility to help others, to look out for them and their safety, and maybe even to help teach them how to feel safe crossing the street on their own. Plus, that reflective safety gear was so cool.
I’m no longer in 5th grade and we’re no longer talking about the risk of cars running through a crosswalk at a stop sign in a small Minnesota town during the middle of the day.
We are talking about being 18 months into a pandemic–feeling like we almost have our heads wrapped around the science of Covid-19–but beginning to reel from the uncertainty, new information, and lack of firm science about the variants of Covid-19 and the risks they pose to all of us. We are talking about trying to keep November Project Boston going, in person, to the best of our ability, while weighing out the physical, mental, emotional, and social benefits of attending these workouts against the potential risks of gathering in a large group to do so. And now it’s time for us to take new action–making adjustments to what we’ve been doing for the last two months, in order to feel that we are both serving the need to gather for free, fun, awesome workouts, while also honoring the need to navigate the viral risk that is present in the world.
How NP Boston is changing, as of August, 2021.
Starting now, and until further notice, we are asking all members of November Project Boston (everyone who attends a workout with us) to keep coming…AND to either wear a mask, maintain social distance, or both. This is based on the scientific understanding of the method of transmission of Covid-19 and its variants, on the recommendation that these practices are helpful for reducing risk of transmission for both people who are vaccinated and not-vaccinated. We remain a community committed to being inclusive to all those who wish to attend, and we aim to set expectations for everyone that allows ongoing participation, in an inclusive way, that does not sacrifice safety–to the best of our ability.
Physical Contact: This also means we ask our entire community to refrain from hugging at workouts. If physical contact is made between people (who both agree to the contact!), please stick to fist bumps, high fives, elbow taps, or toe taps–as these allow for breathing faces to remain distanced.
But What About… people I live with/came to the workout with? Do you have to social distance from them at workouts? We understand that there are roommates, housemates, spouses, and others who you already share space with that makes social distancing from them unnecessary. You do not need to distance from those with whom you already share a home/indoor, unmasked space.
In the Stadium: Because the group in the stadium is so large, we are purposefully spreading people out during the month of August, while we do #Frogust. While we typically do a “bounce” to warm up and get hyped up at the start, we are instead using a rolling start and we will not be doing the usual large group “bounce.” When you arrive, you can get started on the workout.* This helps us be a little more spread out throughout our time in the stadium, and gives an added benefit of offering a little extra time to complete the challenging #Frogust workout! We will call time at 7:20am and gather for a group photo (with a little more space than usual too). *For those who are wondering, we will still have a Newbie Meeting, so those who are attending for the first time can get oriented and will start together at 6:30.
How We Are Handling Contact Tracing
In order to be able to respond in the most helpful and healthful manner possible, if and when we learn of someone testing positive for Covid-19 and having been at a NP workout, we are requiring that everyone complete the November Project Agreement/Waiver in order to attend any workout. This one-time waiver will ensure that we are able to communicate with you via email. In the event of a positive case at a workout, we will inform the entire NP community via the waiver email list. (And just so you know, this list is confidential and does not get used or shared in any other way besides this. Only NP Headquarters, not even local co-leaders, have direct access to this email list.) If you receive an email notifying about a positive Covid-19 case, it will clarify the specific date/workout that the exposure happened, and you can determine if you were there that day or not–and respond accordingly depending on your presence and/or exposure. We will NOT disclose the name of the person who tested positive for Covid-19.
Some might wonder if this mass-email process is necessary, and while it might be an excess of communication, we are choosing to use this method rather than requiring everyone to engage in an attendance sign-in or sign-up and check-in process for every single workout.
We are also purposeful about over-communicating going forward rather than under-communicating, because on Wed. July 28, 2021 there was a NP member who attended the workout and later that day tested positive for Covid-19. When we were informed about the positive status, we immediately took action to trace that person’s contact with others at the workout. They had been specifically careful to not engage with anyone physically at the workout, had maintained social distance both before, during, and at the closing group photo, and had only shared direct conversations with a small number of people. We contacted each of those people within the scope of contact and informed them of the potential exposure. Because we did not have an accurate attendance list of the workout that day, we were not able to inform all attendees, and this has amplified the need for us to be more prepared, more diligent about ensuring everyone has completed the waiver, and communicating more explicitly with all of you about what we are doing, what we need you to do, and what things need to be adjusted in order to be as safe as we can–to keep having workouts!!
What We Need From You, the Community
People often ask us how they can help, and this is a great opportunity to show up for NP.
1. Sign the one-time waiver before attending your first workout, or if you have not yet completed it. Find it here. And remind, encourage, and support anyone you bring to NP to also complete it. It is also easily found on the main menu of the NP website, labeled “Waiver.”
2. Agree to show up prepared to wear a mask and/or keep social distance. We don’t love return to more restrictions either, but we believe it is going to be helpful in maintaining our workouts in person.
3. Take responsibility for yourself. Each of you needs to navigate your own level of risk and benefit–so in addition to complying with NP Boston’s expectations, you are welcome and encouraged to take the measures that you need to, in order to feel good. This needs to include understanding that you do not know everyone’s health and/or vaccination status, that even vaccinated people are able to contract and transmit the virus, and that we will not ever require vaccines/vaccine status in order for people to show up. As a result, taking responsibility for yourself might mean staying farther away from the group or doing the workout in a different space. For some that might mean not taking part in group photos, even if they are socially distanced. For others, it might mean not coming to workouts (and we hope you join November Project WWW for virtual workouts on Wednesdays!) and all of these options are valid. We support you in taking responsibility for you.
4. When you see others at NP who are not social distancing from each other, especially 2-3 people together–please assume the best in others that they understand the expectations we’ve set and that they live together. We are not interested in creating a culture at NP where people feel interrogated or policed. If you see a larger group of people who are not distancing from each other, it is okay to respectfully remind them that NP is asking everyone to wear a mask and/or social distance. Please use a practice of “calling in,” which is about offering information, rather than “calling out,” which is about shaming or exposing their behavior you believe is wrong.
5. If you have symptoms of Covid-19, please do not show up to the workout. And because we know that many infections are asymptomatic, if you test positive for Covid-19 and have attended a NP workout within the previous 5 days, we urge you to contact co-leaders at NP Boston as soon as possible so that we can communicate with the rest of the community. Your name will remain anonymous and we do not expect you to identify yourself publicly in any way. You can email: novemberprojectbos@gmail.com or contact co-leaders Emily Saul, Chris Capozzi, or Dana Bogan directly by phone or text if you have our phone numbers.
6. Keep working out–keep showing up for yourself and this community–whether it is with us at workouts, on your own, or connected virtually through NP_WWW.
7. Have as much fun as possible because while we’re working our butts off to raise the level of safety, we’re not interested in sacrificing fun in our fitness. Maybe you want to get a reflective vest/sash/belt ensemble and rock it at the workout. I’d be down with that! 😉
8. ASK US QUESTIONS. If you wonder something or are concerned about something, please ask us–the co-leaders–for the best, open, honest information. We are happy to offer more information and not everything fits into a social media caption or even a long blog like this. You can always ask a question or offer feedback anonymously by using this form. (there’s an opt in to share your name if you want us to get back to you)
Thanks for reading all the information we’ve got. We’ll continue to update this as things change. Thanks for being a part of November Project Boston. And thank you for your patience, understanding, and support as we work hard to keep this thing going.
With gratitude,
Emily (author), Capoze & Dana aka: #runDEmC
