NAQT's initial precautionary measures for NCT's

[scottkim]

Prior to NAQT canceling the national championships, their website had a list precautionary measures that they would implement to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. However, I don't believe the information is accessible on their website anymore after HSNCT was canceled. Can anyone from NAQT post those precautionary measures here for all to see? I think it would be a great starting point for TD's if they try to run any in person event in the fall.

[jonah]

To minimize the possibility of infections during the HSNCT, we plan to keep track of CDC and WHO guidelines for large-scale gatherings and follow the guidelines wherever possible. We have reached out to the hotels to ensure that they are taking the issue seriously and making effective changes to their operations.

We plan to…

• Have staff wipe down all buzzers, chair backs, and door handles (in hotel rooms) between every game. For game rooms that are hotel suites with attached bathrooms, we will provide virucidal wipes for cleaning toilet handles, faucets, etc.
• Invite extra staff to make it an easy decision for staff who feel ill to stay home and so that we can replace any staff who appear to get sick on-site.
• Ensure that staff who are setting up and returning buzzers exercise extra precautions.
• Replace the cards for the card system with single-use transition slips.
• Address prevention concerns in pre-tournament e-mails, on-site signage, and in the materials provided to teams in their folders.
• Ask teams to bring their own pads of paper and writing implements.
• Distribute questions to teams electronically rather than on paper.
• Eliminate opening meetings and provide information in other ways.
• Ensure that game-room setups are such that teams are separated from each other, staff are separated from each other, and teams are separated from staff by at least 3 feet.
• Instruct teams not to shake hands after matches.

[Cheynem]

This thread might be a good start to discuss best practices in general for quizbowl tournaments in the age of COVID.

I have noticed that even at smaller tournaments, what tends to create the highest amount of non-social distancing is when rounds end and teams just mull all over the place in hallways and in classrooms (and indeed, before the start of tournaments or after tournaments have finished). What I might suggest is that:

1. As the post above indicates, avoid opening meetings as much as possible. Communicate all info through e-mails or one-time handouts. Teams can check in to a room, but then immediately go to their first round gamerooms.

2. If possible, moderation staff should share like a grid where they indicate their games have finished. Teams after finishing should remain in their gameroom until they are told their next gameroom is open--I am hoping this would avoid teams clustering in the hallway. You should stagger this as much as possible as opposed to everyone waiting until all rounds are done to avoid big clumps of people walking.

3. This would probably unfortunately mean that awards ceremonies might have to be done virtually or ex post facto. Ordinarily, we would want teams watching the finals and/or the awards, but this might not be feasible now. Scoring prizes might be distributed on a one-on-one basis--i.e. we text Team X that Player 1 is top scorer, please pick up a book in the control room...

[setht]

To minimize the possibility of infections during the HSNCT, we plan to keep track of CDC and WHO guidelines for large-scale gatherings and follow the guidelines wherever possible. We have reached out to the hotels to ensure that they are taking the issue seriously and making effective changes to their operations.

We plan to…

• Have staff wipe down all buzzers, chair backs, and door handles (in hotel rooms) between every game. For game rooms that are hotel suites with attached bathrooms, we will provide virucidal wipes for cleaning toilet handles, faucets, etc.
• Invite extra staff to make it an easy decision for staff who feel ill to stay home and so that we can replace any staff who appear to get sick on-site.
• Ensure that staff who are setting up and returning buzzers exercise extra precautions.
• Replace the cards for the card system with single-use transition slips.
• Address prevention concerns in pre-tournament e-mails, on-site signage, and in the materials provided to teams in their folders.
• Ask teams to bring their own pads of paper and writing implements.
• Distribute questions to teams electronically rather than on paper.
• Eliminate opening meetings and provide information in other ways.
• Ensure that game-room setups are such that teams are separated from each other, staff are separated from each other, and teams are separated from staff by at least 3 feet.
• Instruct teams not to shake hands after matches.

I am happy to share these ideas we came up with for precautionary measures with the community, but I want to caution everyone that these ideas date back to March 11. We know a good bit more about COVID-19 now, and we will presumably know yet more before in-person quiz bowl resumes. Hopefully our ideas from two months ago are useful as a starting point for discussion and communal development of ideas for best practices. I would certainly not recommend adopting our old ideas wholesale without considering how they should be updated in light of new information. (For instance, the item stating that we would set up game rooms so that both teams and all staffers would be at least 3 feet apart from each other was written before there was a clear consensus on 6 feet for social distancing . . . and I think it's very possible that the typical set-up for a quiz bowl match, with a bunch of people spending ~40 minutes at a time in a small-ish room with poor air circulation, and one person speaking loudly for almost the entire time, is a situation where staying 6 feet apart may not be sufficient to keep people reasonably safe. I am certainly not an expert here! Hopefully there will be better information available to guide us all on this stuff by the time in-person quiz bowl resumes.)

[Cheynem]

I have heard that Dave Madden had been experimenting using recorded reading of packets at some tournaments, where the in-room moderator simply starts and stops the recording and judges correctness (almost like a live playing of Buzzword). This might be infeasible for some tournaments, but seeing the success and clarity of Buzzword, it might be feasible if there is major concern about one person talking a great deal in the direction of a group of people.

(Alternatively, if tournaments were depleted on quality readers, this might be an interesting idea to try in general.)

[scottkim]

Thanks for posting!

Yes, a lot has changed and we have a lot more information about COVID-19 now. I do believe that the quizbowl community will come up with feasible solutions, if it is possible to hold in person events in the fall. I know some of us coaches are about to end school for the year and I didn't want to forget about this since it is a good starting point.

[Ciorwrong]

Thanks for posting!

Yes, a lot has changed and we have a lot more information about COVID-19 now. I do believe that the quizbowl community will come up with feasible solutions, if it is possible to hold in person events in the fall. I know some of us coaches are about to end school for the year and I didn't want to forget about this since it is a good starting point.

Given many universities--including my own-- are going mostly online (i.e. "hybrid") for the fall, hosting in-person qb events is going to be nearly impossible. People are not being realistic if they think 100s of students from across a state are going to be allowed to gather for an academic competition. All this stuff about waiting X weeks until cases have decreased is pure window dressing. If people are encouraged to wear masks in indoor buildings, gatherings are limited in reasonable states (i.e. not the South...) students have to be desks apart, there will not be many if any quizbowl events in Fall 2020. I hope students realize this now. I can say with confidence that there will not be any hosted at my university.

[jonpin]

Some of these ideas are reasonable places to start, but as someone who just had a faculty meeting for my public school at which we talked about ideas and concepts on how we can return to campus in September... I just don't know. I feel like a lot of schools are going to all but nuke extracurricular activities, especially ones that involve travel.
Were a school to host an event, and someone transmitted the illness to players from a dozen other schools, it would be a disaster (medically, financially, and PR-wise).

[Cheynem]

Sure, we can be skeptical there will be any tournaments in 2020 (or 2021?), but we should still talk about precautions we can take when we are able to have tournaments. My suggestions are not meant to replace any recommendations or restrictions advised by schools or public health officials, but rather reflect the reality that, like many schools planning for the future at this moment, quizbowl has to consider what it will do when we are able to.