While I'm happy to comply with any COVID policy in order to dance,
and I choose to wear a mask at bigger events, I question whether the
contra communities' strict policies are doing us much good, either in
protecting us medically or in getting dances going again. Consider:
1.
Even in the most restricted states (New England, etc.), nearly everyone
is maskless nearly all the time in normal life, including most dancers. People eat in very crowded
restaurants, ride public transportation, fly on airplanes, sit in airports, go shopping,
work, attend school, do sports, go to the gym, sing, interact with friends and family members who have been out in the community maskless, etc., mostly without masks.
2. As a result of #1, covid is spreading quite effectively in our communities, even if a few groups are still masking.
3. As a result of #2, protocols at a dance cannot much alter community spread rates, even if the dance spread rate were zero.
But, this isn't concerning most people because:
4. Vaccines do keep nearly every infected person out of the
hospital and reduce long covid.
5. For those going to the hospital or suspected to be at risk,
monoclonal and other treatments are quite effective.
6. As a result, the mortality of
covid-19 is now down to three times that of a bad flu season, which is way
down from the mass carnage of 2020.
It is questionable what anything but masking is doing for us:
7. Unmasked contra dancing, even with a vaccine and negative test,
does
lead to rapid covid spread. Several camps in summer 2022 had 50+ infected
dancers, even though they were all vaccinated and all had tested negative on
arrival. The incubation period and false-negative rate are enough to
allow one or two cases through, and the vaccine no longer keeps you from
getting it, it just dramatically reduces severity.
Since:
8. Even in the most conservative, vaccine-averse Southern communities, 90+% of contra dancers at big events say they are vaccinated (per survey at Summer Contradancers Delight Holiday in Tennessee).
9. Choosing to wear a mask remains an option for everyone, and is quite
effective at keeping the wearer healthy, though it is not foolproof (but neither is life).
And:
10. People have options for recreational and social activities, and many are choosing those with fewer or no restrictions, especially young people who don't have much personal risk from covid.
11. Essentially all other organized dance communities besides contra/English/etc. are dancing without restrictions on a national level, and have been since early 2022: Square, swing, blues, ballroom, salsa, tango, etc.
It may therefore be time for communities to reconsider absolute restrictions, and instead encourage vaccination and mask-wearing as effective ways to stop the spread of diseases like covid, but also the flu, RSV, and other pathogens.
People can still (and I
do) choose to wear masks if they are concerned about getting covid. The
idea of reducing spread at dances would be a good one if the rest of society were
playing along. But, it isn't. When I was a teen, I boycotted China. China didn't change.
Communities with a large component of at-risk dancers who mask in general life and who are vaccinated may wish to continue requiring vax+mask. In areas with many dancers, two dances, one requiring masks and one mask-optional, may make the most sense.
I am especially concerned at the reduced percentage of younger dancers I have seen at recent events. While it seemed, prepandemic, that there was a nascent resurgence in the popularity of contra among the current twentysomethings, few of the young dancers I used to see are showing up to dances post-covid. When I go to swing and blues, there are lots of younger dancers. I am certain that if we required masks at my college contra dance, students would just go to ballroom, salsa, or swing.
If we want to get contra going again, and especially if we want to
attract many new younger dancers, who are not worried that getting covid
represents a big risk to them and who have plenty of unrestricted
options in recreational activities, perhaps it's time not to ask, "does
this policy stop covid from transmitting at our dance," but rather, "does this policy significantly lower the total covid risk our dancers face?"
I argue that strict policies no longer do that, given our behavior in society. Nonetheless, those of us who are concerned can still choose to reduce our own risk substantially by being vaccinated and wearing a well-fitting KN95 or better mask whenever we are in a crowd, including at dances, without requiring it of others. I do.
Thanks,