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Thread: 5A2 - DISCUSSION ITEMS - COVID and Chess

  1. #1
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    Default 5A2 - DISCUSSION ITEMS - COVID and Chess

    This thread is intended to be a place for feedback from VMs on

    - how the pandemic is affecting chess in your area
    - what resources are being used in your area that weren't being used pre-pandemic
    - where chess is at regionally (i.e. online, Zoom, face to face etc) and where you think we as a Federation should be going as things ease (recognizing that the easing process will be proceeding at different rates in different geographical regions

    - or anything else not covered above concerning what our policies should be as the pandemic continues

  2. #2
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    Unless something changed recently, February 21st and March 14th are still the significant milestone dates in Ontario. In preparation for Kingston Easter Chess, the hotels and tourism people and ourselves are proceeding with the expectation (hope?!) that things hold well enough for planned mandate relaxations at those points.
    Last edited by Aris Marghetis; 02-13-2022 at 01:13 PM. Reason: spelling lol

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aris Marghetis View Post
    Unless something changed recently, February 21st and March 14th are still the significant milestone dates in Ontario. In preparation for Kingston Easter Chess, the hotels and tourism people and ourselves are proceeding with the expectation (hope?!) that things hold well enough for planned mandate relaxations at those points.
    There is supposed to be some announcement from the Ontario government on Monday.

  4. #4
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    Ontario is removing capacity restrictions as of Thursday and vaccine passport requirements as of March 1st. Masks remain for now but scientific justification is poor. Particularly for children, masks may cause more harm than good but that is an argument for another day. I expect that the U.S. will remove most requirements as a desperate measure to appease populations who are really done with mask hypocrisy. I don't expect that this will change political outcomes but Canada will also gradually drop the mask and other mandates. Cloth and paper masks are theater and little else. N95 and similar masks have their own dangers mostly with respect to CO2 build-up aside from the documented psychological effects. They also offer inadequate protection for COVID.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...y-14-1.6350761
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 02-14-2022 at 03:30 PM.

  5. #5
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    Here's a distilled summary of today's Ontario announcements as they apply to us:

    effective February 17th: WITH vaccination requirements on a "meeting and event space" (read playing hall), no more capacity limits
    effective March 1st: same as above, except without vaccination requirements (but note that "landlord" may continue requirements)

    masking requirements TBD "at this time"

  6. #6
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    We started phase 1 of 3 today. Each phase is slated to last a month. At the start of phase 3 (in two months from today), practically all the restrictions are slated to be lifted. Of course, we all know what a resurgence in COVID cases does to forecasts ... Here in Nova Scotia, we've had three chess clubs meeting face-to-face for the past year or so although Chess.com has been a favorite for many.

  7. #7
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    Organizers should also be cognizant that some players may not feel comfortable in attending until all restrictions are lifted and even then, especially the older participants, may not feel comfortable in attending face-to-face tournaments. I'm uncertain what can be done, if anything, to appease these players but it should be an issue that the Board should be aware of and provide local organizers with feed back on possible solutions on how to get these players to participate.

  8. #8
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    Very good point Lloyd. In planning KEC, we're having those discussions right now. It seems that it will be a bit of a juggling act for at least a few more months.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lloyd Lombard View Post
    Organizers should also be cognizant that some players may not feel comfortable in attending until all restrictions are lifted and even then, especially the older participants, may not feel comfortable in attending face-to-face tournaments. I'm uncertain what can be done, if anything, to appease these players but it should be an issue that the Board should be aware of and provide local organizers with feed back on possible solutions on how to get these players to participate.
    I think the best way to get people to participate again is to have tournaments that don't become a vector to spread covid. The start will be slow but things will accelerate.

    Last year's Superbowl was largely a non-event when it came to Covid. Hopefully this year's Superbowl was the same.

    People with underlying conditions or advanced age should be cautious but for the most part Omicron has not been deadly.

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    Atlantic Canada has fared better than most other parts of Canada, Covid-wise, although Omicron did hit us. In 2021 NB had two single day CFC events and PEI had two full CFC weekend events. Our local club in Charlottetown had to find a new location, but we opened again in October, before closing for close to two months for Omicron. We are meeting again now. A quarantine for even vaccinated people entering the province has prevented me from holding any CFC events so far in 2022 (generally at least 50% of our players are from off-Island), but we are all ready to go for the middle of April, when it's expected the quarantine will be dropped.

    The Maritime (Online) Chess Club plays on lichess.org and has members from all over Canada and beyond. We started in March 2020 and continue with multiple weekly fun tournaments and a monthly CFC tournament.

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