Return to Flight - Tripoli
On Tuesday, April 28th, the Tripoli Rocketry Association moratorium on group activities expires. As we slowly and carefully resume our rocketry activities, please consider the following:
Prefectures must follow all local health department rules applicable to their location. The local health department is just another AHJ. In order to make sure all local health department rules are followed, Prefects or Launch Directors should contact their local health department for clearance before holding their first launch. Please help them understand that:
· Our hobby should be considered as an Outdoor Recreation which easily supports Social Distancing.
· Our launches are not a Public Assembly.
Be sure to document the name of the person you speak to and the date and time of your conversation. If possible get them to send you an email granting you permission to proceed and listing any restrictions they impose.
We all have a responsibility to keep common surfaces clean that might transfer the coronavirus, such as interiors and door handles of porta-potties, surfaces of inspection tables, and launch equipment. Although flyers are expected to bring their own masks, cleaning wipes, and hand sanitizer, Prefectures should plan on having extras.
If it's possible to avoid or even eliminate common contact surfaces, that's even better. For instance, it’s not necessary for rocket inspectors to touch rockets during inspection. Inspectors can direct the flyer to demonstrate whatever is needed. Also, find ways to safely transfer flight cards. This may require sanitizing your hands before and after handling them.
Make a list of attendees (spectators and flyers) to enable contact tracing if an attendee is later diagnosed as positive for Covid-19.
Prefects or Launch Directors should communicate the following rules and any other rules required by the local health department (such as number of persons allowed) to your members before the launch. You should also reinforce them during the launch with onsite signs:
1. Social distancing is required.
2. Masks must be worn when social distancing cannot be ensured, such as working with a pad manager.
3. At the Prefect's, Launch Director's, or RSO's discretion, people who fail to protect others by using Social Distancing or masks may be sent away.
4. Sanitize hands frequently, especially before and after touching surfaces that may be touched by others.
5. Anyone who does not feel well, or those who are at-risk individuals, or who have at-risk members in their households, should not attend.