updated 7.17.20 with the following revisions:
With COVID on the rise in Ohio and upon receipt of the Grand Master’s latest Edict issued July 17, 2020, Ohio Grand Assembly and all subordinate Assemblies will proceed, effective immediately, under the leadership displayed by our Grand Master and will transcend his directive to Ohio Grand Assembly and all subordinate Assemblies with additional precautions as necessary for youth protection.
If your Assembly or an event is located in a county that is:
Yellow/Level 1 or Orange/Level 2: You may meet per the standing COVID guidance previously issued (see below).
Red/Level 3: You may only meet in groups of less than 20, with masks on, outside, for less than 2 hours.
Purple/Level 4: You may not meet in person for any reason. You may meet virtually. Please consult with me if you have questions about how to proceed with business critical items during this time.
You can check the current status of the county here. These status' change regularly so please check frequently. Due to this constant change, all Assemblies are advised to always have a backup plan in place for any in-person gatherings they are planning in order to preserve the continuity of their Assembly.
This protocol will be in place until at least 10.23.2020.
Updated 6.20.20 with the following clarifications:
Requirements:
Masks are required to be worn at all indoor Rainbow functions and are highly encouraged at outdoor functions
No singing in groups.
No touching.
Guidance for Ritualistic Challenges:
Marching: should be 6 feet apart so you might want to skip this if that's too tedious for a simple meeting
Sitting: No one should be sitting closer than 6 feet from each other (unless they're in their own household together anyways) so audience members and station chairs should be placed accordingly
Passing: It's ok for members to come within 6 feet of each other when passing for ritualistic floor work
Talking: When an office is talking to another office, they should be 6 feet apart (ie: when Hope and Charity meet at the altar - 6 ft apart. When Drill Leader comes to escort in the officers, she stops 6 feet prior to them...)
Touching: No touching.
No transferring of objects. Just go without/mock the part. Some of this might look a little silly. It's ok.
No arm-led escorting, ideally the escort is having the escorted person follow 6ft behind her
Singing: No singing. Either have the song played instrumentally, from a recording, or by 1 designated person/a soloist
No collecting of the traditional word - have adults be able to vouch for a girl should there ever be question
Praying: Ensure that WA and MA step back from Chaplain while she speaks into the microphone, if using
Balloting:
Spray/clean the balls/cubes prior to putting into the container
Have sanitizer available from Charity upon departing the alter - girls to sanitize their hands after casting their ballot
Initiation in Person:
Be sure your candidate is aware of what will be happening and how you're preparing to maintain social distancing. It's important that they are comfortable - otherwise, do not proceed. There are a few ways you can go about this:
The closest to normal: Have the candidate follow Faith, 6ft back. Faith may need to give more cues about where the sister should ultimately stop or otherwise - it is ok for Faith to audibly make such statements like "Go stand 6 ft away from the Yellow pedestal there"
The next closest: Have the candidate(s) sit on the sidelines, 6 ft apart, and have a current member act in the above described "closest to normal" situation.
The third situation: see your Grand Deputy.
The route you choose should be based on the comfort level of all initiation participants. Regardless of what you choose, you could host another complete initiation for these initiates once we are able to return to normal initiatory work.
No grip of the order - they'll learn it later!
Ribbons should be carried by the station's officer and placed thereon. The candidate should stand 6 ft clear of this act.
No traditional word - we'll share it at a later time!
Lambskin Aprons should be picked up by each initiate and just held in their hands rather than Charity picking them up and placing on candidate
If rose ceremony, initiates pick up the rose from the pile/vase rather than Faith picking up the rose and handing to initiate .
Signing the bylaws - offer sanitizer on the desk for girls to use after using the pen to sign
The following guidelines have been issued by Supreme Deputy Whitney Poma upon receipt of the Grand Master’s latest edict:
Restrictions for Gathering:
1. Adhere to your Lodge’s Guidelines: Assemblies are asked to reach out to their lodge to get more information about their potential to re-open and to ensure that they're able to meet the requirements of their lodge during their planned gatherings.
2. Be smart about whether or not you should attend:
Do not come if you have been in contact with COVID, had been diagnosed with, recovered from, or suspected to have had COVID (in absence of an official test to confirm) within the last 14 days.
Do not come if you have or have had a fever above 100 or any other symptom of COVID in the last 24 hours.
3. Members and advisors are entirely welcome to elect to not attend, with complete sympathy that they may not feel comfortable in social settings for the foreseeable future.
There are no mandatory events at this time.
Do not incentive members to attend any gathering. Members are not incentivized to attend by a merit system or any other reward or recognition.
There is no penalty for Members and Advisors who do not attend.
5. Gathering Size:
In general, everyday life, gatherings of no more than 10 is the rule of thumb until at least July 1st.
For gatherings at a facility where social distancing restrictions as I have outlined above and as are outlined on coronavirus.ohio.gov are being followed are permitted up to 300.
Important:
Should you be having an event and a complaint is filed, the complaint will go to your county health department and they will be responsibility to come take a look and issue any charges. The Ohio Department of Health encourages you to call your County Department of Health to ask them about what you're planning to do, take note of their name, and then use their guidance for reference when planning your event and, should a complaint be filed, you could reference the name and guidance received from their department prior to proceeding with the event during their inspection.
Thus - the following recommendation is in place until 7/1 or until these restrictions are amended by our ODH, whichever comes sooner.
Assemblies are welcome to meet regularly in small groups - extra visitors from our sponsoring bodies are discouraged at this time. Limit to just members, advisors, and parents. Prospects and their parents/guardians are welcome for prospect friendly events.
If you're interested in hosting a larger, formal event (or should you just have a large assembly in general), then the capacity should limited to a number that allows social distancing within your facility or Lodge, but not to exceed 300.
The following guidelines are highly encouraged:
Social gatherings are outside/in open air if possible. Gatherings indoors are optimized for ventilation or otherwise will not last longer than a few hours.
Soap & sinks and/or sanitizer are readily available to all. Attendees should be cleaning their hands upon arrival and departure.
Masks should be worn.
If food is served then it should not be served as a self-serve buffet. The serving platters are to have proper serving utensils so that no "finger food" is necessary. Food items are served by masked and clean-handed servers. Disposable plates, utensils, and napkins are used to avoid spreading germs to those that would otherwise be cleaning reusable serve ware.
Your assembly is welcome to add to these guidelines as they see fit for any unique situations your Assembly may require in order to help everyone feel comfortable and to ensure safety.
FAQ: Ritualistic work
The Grand Master has outlined some guidance for ritualistic work within the above mentioned edict. The goal is to be socially distanced and to make sure each participant, especially initiatory candidates, feel comfortable for the agenda of the work. That said - talking through the ceremony with your candidates to make sure they're comfortable and feel safe is good. If they don't feel safe then make changes to accommodate.
Each Assembly room is unique, thus blanket amendments to the ritualistic work are not applicable. Each Assembly’s Advisory Board and members should meet to discuss challenges and how you can overcome them. It may be nice to add an announcement to the beginning of your meetings (either prior to the MA walking in or after ritualistic opening) that revisions to the ritualistic work have been made to ensure social distancing. This type of announcement would fit nicely into wherever you include other "housekeeping" type words like "no cell phones".