Returning to the dance studio safely (covid-19)

ProgressNotPerfection said:
Hair is just dead skin cells. It grows back. What’s the worst that can happen? (Other than baldness and death by electric hair clippers, that is.)
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Actually, I know it's irrational, but one of my fears is that one of us is going to accidentally cut the other with the clippers and then there will be bleeding and will we have to go to urgent care/ER.... blah blah apocalypse.

My haircut is not super complicated, but it is a little nuanced for someone like my spouse who has never cut hair, and even some stylists at the walk-in salon have not quite mastered it over the years. I don't want it to drive me nuts for who knows how long (it's not just how it looks, it's also how it feels) if it goes really badly.

I suspect we're going to christen the clippers on my son. Imma have to break out Youtube for the scissor cut part on top. In the meantime I'm going to keep kicking the can down the road.
 
This belongs in the "Random Thoughts" thread, but while we're on this topic...

I've mused/worried off and on over the years about careers. I had literally been thinking (many times) about how people who do physically present jobs like hair stylist, mechanic, etc. pretty much had job security because you can't outsource that to India. Whereas my office computer job is very much at risk for that some day, if we can ever get to the point where informed judgment is not so critical. I never imagined a situation like this where the former would be out of a job and people like me would still be furiously working away.
 
IndyLady said:
Actually, I know it's irrational, but one of my fears is that one of us is going to accidentally cut the other with the clippers and then there will be bleeding and will we have to go to urgent care/ER.... blah blah apocalypse.
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Did the clippers come with guide combs? They make it quite safe.
 
I have a friend on Facebook in Atlanta that is going to go ahead with opening the studio. basically his messages that he respect anyone who wants to continue to stay home, but he has been out of work for a long time and because of his status he can't even get the checks from the government. So I think he will start teaching a few lessons, probably private.
 
My Pro is independent, so he has no fixed studio that he uses. We've been talking about going back (whenever it becomes allowed in my state). He is very concerned about dancing with a lot of different people and right now his plan is just to work with 2-3 students one-on-one. He also plans to teach couples and group classes (esp kids classes), where he could maintain social distancing. (Some students have already told him they plan to continue zoom lessons and not come to the studio.) He's also concerned about the studio space itself. Some we've used are more crowded, some have (in the past) had relatively lax hygiene standards, some may not choose to open to independent instructors. So we will have to see what becomes feasible As I've mentioned elsewhere, we've been dancing on occasion (separately) in a park or parking lot. It's not ideal, but it does resolve some of the "space" issues. With respect to gloves and masks, we haven't discussed that yet, but I imagine that masks (at least) will be worn.
 
raindance said:
The thing with someone like a hairdresser (or optometrist, dentist, nail technician, etc) is that while you spend less time with them per week or month, they see more clients per day/week/month than your pro, who probably sees many of the same clients week after week.
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I was thinking something like that myself. Established teachers have a group of core clients they see a lot. So the circle of people might be smaller.

And it will be interesting to see how this plays out. When the studio reopens, it reopens, and I'll figure something out. Other places I'd like to see reopen soon are the library - I desperately need new books. An option might be to offer curbside book drop off/pick up, from reserving books online. I also would like to see the gym reopen. They offered disinfectant for the equipment, and I can maintain social distance from other patron easily enough. Oh, and I'd like to see my local independent Hallmark open. They carry tons of jigsaw puzzles! I'll quickly dart in and out with my selections. :)
 
raindance said:
How worried a studio might be has little effect on availability of testing. Maybe you're from a country where "anyone that wants a test, gets a test," but that certainly is far from the case in the USA, which was snapdancer's point.

And if everyone is tested the first week, what about the next week, and the one after that? How frequently are you imagining they would "require everyone to get tested"?

Lastly, this virus is not is not spread by sweat. I agree though, that with a lot of people in close quarters, one infected person among the group is potentially bad news for the rest.
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I was just saying that, if a studio wants near 100% protection from Big Rona, then the studio may have to take extreme preventative measures. I don't really think it's feasible, but I think that if they want to do super safe, that's what it will have to take. I still would like to go back to college night socials at my studio, and if it weren't for my family, I think I would go regardless.
 
tsb said:
apparently some choral group up in the state of washington decided to go ahead with a rehearsal. no members presented with symptoms at the time, and they sat every other chair but about half (28/60) tested positive, another 17 present had symptoms but did not get tested for a total of 45/60 (75%), and it proved fatal for 2 members.
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As someone from Washington, I feel it necessary to point out this happened in the first or second week of March, back when social distancing was still "recommended," large groups were not forbidden, and before anyone really knew the scope of this thing. But the facts stand...and stand as a good example of how communicable COVID-19 is, when everyone feels fine and no one thinks they are sick.

It was also, in general, an older population (as community choirs often are), a large group, and complete with snacks at the end. Not a dissimilar population to a lot of dance studios.
 
DanceMentor said:
Masks

Certainly this does not solve everything, but it does seem like wearing a mask while doing a lot of partner changing might actually make a lot of sense and make things a little bit more safe. For one if someone coughs they're likely would not be as much distribution in the air when there are a lot of people in the room. And also there is less likely to be as much touching other face.
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Out of curiosity, has anyone tried actually dancing while wearing a mask? I've tried running very short distances in a mask a few times (generally with a dog I'm trying to exercise, and no more than a few hundred feet, or up a flight of stairs), and it leaves me unable to breathe through the mask. I can't even imagine trying to dance in one. Maybe very simple easy social dances - but certain not lessons.
 
I can't imagine wearing a mask for lessons for very long either. I'd be taking breaks, for sure. V. waltz with a mask, just forget it.

It's bad enough when I'm out in public, and my glasses fog up because of the mask. I've temporarily stopped wearing my contact lens, mostly because I don't see the point in wearing them at home.

So, if I wore my glasses to a lesson, I won't be able to see or breathe. Nice.
 
Warren J. Dew said:
The choices are not just 100% protection or 0% protection, though. Something like the 80/20 rule likely applies.
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Beyond the dance school, if we have contact tracing implemented to the full effect, we can notify the dance school at the soonest possible time we find out there has been contact with someone who has been attending the dance school. I would assume in some cases this would equate to just that individual business being shut down temporarily, and some individuals being asked not to attend events of any kind for a week or two.
 
If you have contact tracing fully implemented, you don't just notify the dance school; you go to the dance school and start interviewing everyone who came into contact with the contact so you can test them too, unless and until the contact's test(s) comes back negative. If you're really serious about it, you quarantine all these people until their tests come back negative. Since they're quarantined, there's no need to shut down the dance school, except maybe for cleaning.
 
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