Coronavirus leading to cancellation?

[NickFaulks]

Lets see how many Londoners wear surgical masks next week.

Probably not many, because they've been sold out for weeks.

[Ian Thompson]

Regarding the viral transmission through inanimate objects we can treat handling chess pieces the same way as handling packages of food as the advice says:

"How coronavirus is spread

Because it's a new illness, we do not know exactly how coronavirus spreads from person to person. Similar viruses are spread in cough droplets.

It's very unlikely it can be spread through things like packages or food. Viruses like coronavirus cannot live outside the body for very long."

However, the WHO advice says:

"It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses. Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days."

So you're not at risk from picking something up that's come from China, or another infected area, but you are at risk if you touch something that an infected person has recently touched.

[Tim Spanton]

Regarding the viral transmission through inanimate objects we can treat handling chess pieces the same way as handling packages of food as the advice says:

"How coronavirus is spread

Because it's a new illness, we do not know exactly how coronavirus spreads from person to person. Similar viruses are spread in cough droplets.

It's very unlikely it can be spread through things like packages or food. Viruses like coronavirus cannot live outside the body for very long."

However, the WHO advice says:

"It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses. Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days."

So you're not at risk from picking something up that's come from China, or another infected area, but you are at risk if you touch something that an infected person has recently touched.

"A few hours or up to several days." If true, then one could be at risk from something that came from the moon, never mind China.

https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

[Stewart Reuben]

Every time one crosses the street, one is risking being hurt.
We assess such risks and the probability of being harmed every day, weighing against the benefits. We take precautions, often unconsciously.

[JustinHorton]

Thanks for that, Stewart, that's exactly the kind of detailed public health advice we need in this situation.

[MJMcCready]

I can assure you there are at least two international tournaments in the next six weeks that have had more than 100 entrants drop out. Can't name them though-sorry.

[John Moore]

Thanks for that, Stewart, that's exactly the kind of detailed public health advice we need in this situation.

Stewart wasn't offering public health advice, detailed or otherwise, as you very well know. But he is saying what I am sure many of us think.

[Tim Spanton]

I can assure you there are at least two international tournaments in the next six weeks that have had more than 100 entrants drop out. Can't name them though-sorry.

Why not?

[NickFaulks]

Every time one crosses the street, one is risking being hurt.
We assess such risks and the probability of being harmed every day, weighing against the benefits. We take precautions, often unconsciously.

I think that's absolutely right. I made a calculated decision to go to Abu Dhabi for the FIDE Congress ( just got back ).

I thought it was an easy one, but some people did cancel. On Friday, when two hotels down the road were locked down, they weren't looking so daft.

Unless the thing goes away quickly, which is in my uninformed view unlikely, there will be similar bets to be placed on 4NCL weekends - they feel like quite good places for a contagious virus to spread. I expect I shall go unless the problem gets so bad that they don't happen at all.

[Paul McKeown]

Now that some of the more hysterical, racially tinged posters have gone quiet, it is perhaps possible to engage positively with this thread.

[Paul McKeown]

The U11 Jamboree held at Orleans Park School, Twickenham, on Sunday 16th February was subject to queries from some team managers concerning arrangements regarding the coronavirus. I know that some teams lost players as a result of fears concerning the matter.

As the tournament organiser, I sent out the following email to other team managers, on the matter:

QUOTE:
I would start by saying that I am not a medical professional, nor a virologist, nor an epidemiologist, etc. I have no professional qualification at all in anything that would mean anyone should take a single word I say about the novel coronavirus seriously in any way at all.

Nevertheless, I note that there is some concern amongst some team captains.

I would suggest that at the moment, there is no declaration of a pandemic by the WHO, nor is there any notable evidence yet for transmission within the United Kingdom, or more widely within Europe, the Middle East or Africa. So, the risks at the moment seem low.

Nevertheless to allay fears I propose the following measures:
• We should ask any sick participants or parents, please, to stay at home and notify their team managers as early as possible;
• Ask the players, for once, not to shake hands before and after the game, but to wish each other a good game at the start of the round and to thank each other for a good game at the end of the game. A bow, oriental martial arts style, would also be acceptable;
• I will provide hand sanitisers, disposable handkerchiefs and bins in the tournament hall and would ask team managers to provide them for their teams in the team rooms;
• We should ask all participants to wash their hands after going to the WC, after coughing or sneezing.

If these measures are acceptable and sufficient, then I will publish them in advance, and at the tournament.

The only other measures, which I can imagine, but am loathe to consider, are:
• Provide wet wipes to clean clock buttons with after use
• Provide disposable thermometers
• Cancel the event

Nevertheless, if anyone has any comments, please make them quickly, so that they can be considered and adopted.
END-QUOTE

These arrangements proved acceptable to all concerned.

[Paul McKeown]

As an organiser of a considerable number of events, I will adopt the main points of the email above for our events, until the coronavirus threat has abated, i.e.

• We should ask any sick participants or parents, please, to stay at home and notify their team managers as early as possible;
• Ask the players, for once, not to shake hands before and after the game, but to wish each other a good game at the start of the round and to thank each other for a good game at the end of the game. A bow, oriental martial arts style, would also be acceptable;
• I will provide hand sanitisers, disposable handkerchiefs and bins in the tournament hall and would ask team managers to provide them for their teams in the team rooms;
• We ask all participants to wash their hands after going to the WC, after coughing or sneezing.

We might conceivably use wet-wipes to clean clock buttons. If there should be an outbreak affecting players in Richmond Juniors or Richmond Rapidplay events, we would seek advice as to how to clean all our equipment effectively before it was re-used (perhaps UV might prove better than some chemical wipes or solution, for example).

If the worst came to the worst, and the government were to shut down inessential gatherings for a period, then we would seek to run the club lessons via server. For those who had paid for cancelled tournaments, we would offer entry in a future event of choice, or refund where necessary. Obviously mass refunds would hurt us badly.

[Matthew Turner]

I noticed no differences at the 4NCL. I didn't see any face mask, or people not shaking hands. I also noted that when we signed in our cars there was no hand wash or screen cleaner, by the screen. I'd be surprised if things were the same in a month's time.

[NickFaulks]

nor is there any notable evidence yet for transmission within the United Kingdom

That was true when you wrote it, but it isn't now.

[JustinHorton]

I believe the Dubai Open has been cancelled