REQUIREMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
· Yellow/Level 1 or Orange/Level 2: You may meet inside or outside while observing the requirements for in-person meetings.
· Red/Level 3: You may only meet outside only while observing the requirements for in-person meetings.
· 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.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL IN-PERSON MEETINGS:
· Masks are required to be worn at all Rainbow functions
· Abide by any regulations that your place of meeting has instituted.
· Total attendance of the group is to be confirmed by whichever is lowest:
The regulations of the meeting place
If outdoor venue: 1500 guests or 15% of meeting room capacity
If indoor venue: 300 guests or 15% of meeting room capacity
· No singing in groups.
· No touching.
· 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.
· Attendance is not rewarded nor punished during this time. Assembly incentive programs should be modified accordingly.
· When serving food, check coronavirus.ohio.gov for the latest addendum to the Director’s Order that Reopens Restaurants, Bars, Banquet and Catering Facilities and Services to Dine-in Service, with Exceptions for the latest guidance on how to safely to do. The most recent addendum as of 3.24.2021 can be found here. Previously issued guidance and the original order itself can be found here.
RESOURCES:
· Check the color status of your county here. This updates weekly on Thursdays.
· A useful handout from the Governor’s office that describes the county alert levels
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.
o No transferring of objects. Just go without/mock the part. Some of this might look a little silly. It's ok.
o 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:
o Spray/clean the balls/cubes prior to putting into the container
o Have sanitizer available from Charity upon departing the alter - girls to sanitize their hands after casting their ballot
· Initiation in Person:
o 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.
o No grip of the order - they'll learn it later!
o Ribbons should be carried by the station's officer and placed thereon. The candidate should stand 6 ft clear of this act.
o No traditional word - we'll share it at a later time!
o 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
o If rose ceremony, initiates pick up the rose from the pile/vase rather than Faith picking up the rose and handing to initiate .
o Signing the bylaws - offer sanitizer on the desk for girls to use after using the pen to sign
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.
