Covid19 Mitigation

As we resume in-person Speech & Debate tournaments after a year of being online, we have a shared communal responsibility to make this a safe activity for all participants, coaches, and judges. At the same time, with any activity it is important to acknowledge that participation comes with assuming some (hopefully small) inherent risk. My hope is that through being upfront about ASDCA tournament expectations, teams and competitors can make informed choices before deciding to compete on our campus and can appropriately inform their teams, parents and judges about the expectations while on campus. 

Symptomatic Individuals:

In accordance with AIA guidelines, symptomatic individuals should stay home and not participate in the tournament. In the event that you develop symptoms while at the tournament, you should isolate away from others until you can leave (inform your coach so they can work with the tournament director). Please get a PCR test and think about which rooms you've been in and with which people you've been in close contact.

Vaccination: 

The AIA strongly recommends that all members of the community who are able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine become vaccinated.

Masks: 

We anticipate aligning with an upcoming statement from the ASDCA (AZ Speech & Debate Coaches Association), expecting all competitors, coaches, judges, guests, and other tournament staff to wear face masks (not shields) at all times while on campus, with the exception of a student competitor removing it while it is their turn to speak in round, or individuals eating (while social distanced from others) outside of round. 

Competitors unwilling to wear masks risk disqualification from the tournament and will be asked to leave. Judges/coaches/guests unwilling to wear masks risk disqualification of their team (or partial thereof in proportion to their judge obligation ratio) from the tournament and will be asked to leave.  

HVAC Air Filtration and Campus Cleaning:

Please take comfort in knowing that Scottsdale Preparatory Academy has replaced our standard HVAC filters with Merc-13 hospital grade filters. These higher-grade filters are used in multiple settings including Hospital General Surgery rooms and Hospital Laboratories to allow better air filtration.

Scottsdale Prep's entire campus, including each classroom, is deep cleaned Friday evenings with both a Victory Electrostatic Sprayer and Brady Non-Acid Disinfectant. This will our tournament to walk into a completely fresh environment Saturday morning. 

Note: Our campus does not have or utilize plastic desk shields. 

Hand-washing / hand sanitizing / hygiene etiquette:

Everyone is encouraged to wash hands frequently while on campus. Bathrooms are placed throughout campus, and hand sanitizing stations are in every classroom. Shaking hands, while social norm for some people, is discouraged. We also ask individuals to exercise good hygiene etiquette (coughing/sneezing into a tissue, or their elbow when one isn't available).

Concessions: All individuals distributing student concessions or serving any judge lounge food that isn't individually packaged will be wearing gloves and face masks. 

Social Distancing:

Individuals are encouraged to social distance in between rounds, and as much as space allows when inside a round.

Please note: we cannot guarantee that all individuals in all classrooms will be able to be spaced 6 feet apart, but do not anticipate ever needing to place more than 2 competitors at any given 5 to 6 foot table. We hope to be able to spread competitors out as much as possible in each classroom.

- Student gathering: Before, between, and after rounds, students are encouraged to gather in our multi-purpose room (cafeteria) which has a garage door that opens to the back outside patio of campus (allowing increased air flow). Additional seating is available outside. We encourage teams and competitors to spread-out as much as possible.

- Concession Pre-orders: Like past years, we will continue to sell student lunch pre-orders the morning of the tournament, before Round 1. This allows us to distribute lunch as quickly/easily as possible. Students can continue to line up before the Opening Ceremony to order/pay for their lunch.

New 2021: To reduce the need for lining up to pre-purchase lunch before Session 1, I have enabled an option for coaches to place a concessions order for their team through Tabroom.com and have it added onto their team invoice. While not required, this allows teams to avoid standing in the pre-order line. 

- Judges Lounge: We have designated an additional classroom as overflow for the judges lounge to give judges the ability to better social distance in between rounds (particularly while eating).

- Opening Ceremony / Awards Ceremony: We anticipate moving the opening ceremony and Awards Ceremony to the Multi-Purpose Room (cafeteria) or possibly gym to allow for better social distancing than what we'd normally be able to accomplish in our 230-seat Theatre (which tends to be nearly full of competitors in a typical year).

- Round Observers: While we understand the desire for students/parents to observe rounds in which they are not competing/judging, our primary goal is to allow the competitors/judges who must be in the room to have ample space to social distance. As a result, we are not able to allow observers in the room for any rounds of our tournament this year (including elimination rounds). As this means your team may have students who have extra free time on their hands once they are eliminated (and can't observe like at tournaments in the past), please encourage them to bring homework/books/games to occupy their time. Judges are still required to continue to judging at the tournament, even after all students from their team have been eliminated.  

Contact Tracing and Return to Play: 

- Symptomatic individuals (students or adults) should not be at an in-person tournament. Coaches, please hold your students and judges to this expectation. 

- If you begin to feel symptomatic during or after the tournament, please go and get a PCR test and isolate until you have results. Please note that Rapid tests and PCR home tests are both notoriously unreliable, particularly in younger people. Save yourself the time/heartache and get a full PCR test administered.

- In the event that a competitor, coach, or judge tests positive for Covid-19, they should work with their Coach and Tournament Director to determine close contacts so the tournament director can communicate with the coach of relevant close contacts in a way that respects the medical privacy/identity of the positive individual.

Please note that we anticipate hopefully minimizing the number of close contacts by requiring "consistent and correct use of well-fitting masks" at all times except competitors speaking/performing in-round (ideally 6+ feet from the audience) and eating outside of round. Competitors should eat lunch with their own teammates to limit the number of close contacts, and then re-mask to be able to talk to other competitors during the lunch break.

Coaches: Please remember that you will need to work with your school administration regarding any student quarantines and a positive student's completion of the AIA Return to Play paperwork for your student to return to participation in your team if they test positive.

Definition of Close Contact: 

https://www.maricopa.gov/5570/Are-You-a-Close-Contact-of-Someone-with-

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) follow CDC guidelines and define a close contact of a COVID-19 case as being:

• You were within 6 feet of a person with COVID-19, regardless of whether masks were worn, for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated, OR;
• You had physical contact with a person with COVID-19 while infectious.
  
  Exception: In the K-12 school setting, CDC guidance states a student who was within 3-6 feet of an infected student is not considered a close contact if both students were engaged in consistent and correct use of well-fitting masks at all times. 
  • NOTE: This exception does not apply to teachers, staff or other adults in the classroom setting

*Individual exposures added together over a 24-hour period (e.g., three 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes).