We were recently asked if we were still having game next weekend, what with everything going on (The Delta variant, the recent pandemic case surge, etc). The short answer is yes, albeit certainly with extra precautions than we had planned a few weeks ago, let alone when we started thinking about this over a year ago. But it was also felt that a longer answer, with supporting logic and information, was probably warranted.
First, we're an entertainment company. The only medical advice we can ever really give is to consult with your medical provider. Data and guidance throughout this entire pandemic has changed frequently as more has been learned and new data studied; sometimes it seems almost daily. We respect, encourage, and support you, the players, in deciding what level of risk you are willing to accept for yourselves. No business, let alone a LARP, will ever be able to remove 100% of the risk at this point from attending. However, there are things that we can all do from both a Gamerunner standpoint and a player viewpoint to help minimize those risks for everyone as much as we can. But the unfortunate truth is that, like any and every thing else in the world, we'll never be able to remove all of that risk and we want players to make the informed choice that is correct for themselves.
One of the major concerns with the Delta variant is its transmissibility. Current data (that I've seen so far) implies that this variant likes to initially hang out in the nose, throat, and upper airways before proceeding into the lung space like most of the previous variants. Because it wants to start replicating as soon as it can, which means those initial contact areas, this makes it more likely to be transmissible and passed along early on before the immune system's antibodies have really had a significant opportunity to attack it. It is hypothesized that this may be what is causing some of the "breakthrough" infections with vaccinated individuals: Infection and symptoms (and therefore transmission) occurring before the immune system has really had a chance to get at it properly.
Conversely, most of the COVID-19 related deaths have occurred due to the virus building up and replicating in the lungs, which are (obviously) really important to the human body, and the immune system being unable to successfully fight it off once it's lodged there. This is also part of why the vaccines have been so successful at preventing hospitalization, deaths, and the likelihood of asymptomatic cases that we saw with previous variants in unvaccinated individuals. [https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/30/what-delta-has-changed-in-the-covid-pandemic-and-what-it-hasnt/]
It is super important to note that while this week's news headlines have focused on "breakthrough" cases with vaccinated individuals and leaked CDC information, they are still relatively uncommon and not necessarily a significant amount of the current case surge. To use WI for an example, many of the state's counties barely have a 50% vaccinated rate. Toss an even more highly transmissible virus at the general population, and yeah you'll most definitely see a huge surge in cases while everyone's taking their masks off and pretending that everything is “normal” again. The approved vaccines have never been 100% effective at preventing COVID-19, and early studies with previous variants suggested that vaccinated individuals were pretty unlikely to spread the virus (because transmission relied on the virus replicating itself inside of the lung's airways, where the immune system was more likely to prevent combat it directly and prevent it from digging in).
"The CDC reported 6,587 Covid-19 breakthrough cases as of July 26, including 6,239 hospitalizations and 1,263 deaths." [https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/health/fully-vaccinated-people-breakthrough-hospitalization-death/index.html] Those 6,587 breakthrough cases are total, not daily. The week before that, on July 19th, there were 5,601 total breakthrough cases; an approximate increase of 900 reported breakthrough cases over that week. For comparison, the CDC also reported almost 47,000 new COVID-19 cases just on July 26th alone, with the US having approximately 2.5 million active, ongoing cases at that time. Approximately 3/4 of those breakthrough cases were in senior citizens over the age of 65. The chances of a fully vaccinated individual contracting the Delta variant and transmitting it to others, while more possible than it was a few months ago with previous variants, is overall still currently pretty low. Not impossible, but low. Obviously, the primary danger, and vast majority of new infection cases, is coming from unvaccinated individuals. Wisconsin overall still only has about a 51% vaccinated population; some states in the USA only have a ~35% vaccinated population. That leaves a lot of people to get infected, and very quickly, with this variant, so it is definitely not surprising that the state is going to have a surge of active COVID-19 cases.
So, the relevant risks aren't zero by any means. They are, however, still relatively low, but again this is something that individuals need to make decisions on for themselves. So what can we do, as both players and Gamerunners, to help keep those risks acceptably low for each other?
Masks? Masks are still super important, and always have been. Vaccines? Also still super important. Both of these are required per policy at DR: Wisconsin Events, and are likely to remain required for a very long time, but they still only do so much. We're also taking steps on the Gamerunner side to help with infection control, such as more cabin space while retaining the option for tent camping (already done; Yay, new site!), instituting a 1-shift wait time for sanitation controls on NPC costuming to dry, providing longer rest periods for more healthy sleep, and even doing laundry for NPC costuming on-site! But I also want to talk about things that I still don't hear enough talk about: Hygiene and the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO, for short).
WASH YOUR HANDS. Often. Hand sanitizer doesn't do nearly enough most of the time. Use warm water, use soap, scrub while you sing campfire songs, and then use the paper towel to open the door while you exit. Don't wipe your nose on your hands. Cover your mouth with a handkerchief (or at least your elbow) when you sneeze. Before or after (probably after) NPC shift is also a great time to grab a shower; the two buildings are right next to each other, so it's super convenient to just bring your towel and a bar of soap with you.
FOMO has probably gotten as many of us sick as anything else in the history of conventions and gaming. With the lessening of mask restrictions in the US, colds and other respiratory illnesses have started to spread again, not to mention seasonal allergies and the currently-present polluted air from ongoing forest fires. Please don't come to game if you're not feeling well. There’s always Non-Attending tickets for Home players if you don’t want to miss out on the XP. If you start not feeling well at game, please go home; just let us know, hand in your sheet, and head on out. Nobody wants to ditch out on their shift or other responsibilities. Nobody wants to feel like they're ruining game for their friends by telling their carpool buddies they need to leave in a hurry, but trust us: everyone at game would much prefer you head home and get some real rest without getting the rest of us sick, too.
Remember to take into consideration the little things: Communal eating, washing dishes, giving hugs or otherwise physically touching those you care about, and proper social distancing. ASK for consent before hugging or doing close-proximity Roleplay. If we can suspend our disbelief that the liquid in a can with its label covered isn't really Kickstart, I'm pretty sure we can suspend our disbelief enough that zombies don't need to actually be right in someone's face to gnaw on them. All of these things, added up, can help reduce the relevant risks for the whole game.
This isn’t just about the COVID-19 virus. For too long, many “nerd” events (Not just LARPs, and certainly not just DR) and their attendees have turned a blind eye to ways we could have done better. We accepted that “event crud” was just part of going to the event. Sometimes we used “immersion” as an excuse; sometimes we didn’t even bother making an excuse. This is our chance to do better. Let’s do better. Cover your vegetables in melted cheese if you must to make them more palatable, but at least wash your hands before and brush your teeth after. After the last two years, we can no longer give the old ways a pass. This personal responsibility belongs to each and every one of us, and we all need to own that.
If the August game was not 100% vaccinated (which we can now definitively say it will be), or we weren't wearing masks indoors for extra safety, we would likely say the risk would be too high for playing in-person again. But with those two factors in place as a foundation (and only a foundation), and everyone doing their part to be conscientious about the fact that we are still living in a pandemic and not just "going back to normal," we feel that we can currently move forward with in-person gaming for August. We will, of course, be monitoring new data and adapting as proven science continues to learn new things about a virus that also continues to mutate and evolve, and will update and change our policies and procedures to provide the best game experience that we can.
We hope to see you next weekend. But more importantly, we’d rather see you when we can.