Good morning,
My name is Saionji no Hana, a member of the Society since 1995, a Companion of the Order of the Laurel, and currently serving as Royal Rapier Marshal in the Kingdom of the West. I also run rapier at a local branch practice on Thursday nights: in compliance with county, state and Kingdom requirements, it is held outdoors and while fighters have the option of not wearing face masks under helmets/fencing masks, they must wear them when their “hats” are off. Compliance has not been a problem.
I have spent the past week grinding my teeth in anger and frustration while in self imposed quarantine awaiting Covid testing results.
On the morning of Saturday, August 21, 2021, I received an instant message from someone who attended our practice: he had just tested positive for Covid-19 and wanted to let me know. I immediately messaged my principality and kingdom seneschals asking what I should do. When more than an hour had passed without response, I pulled the contact tracing sheet from that night’s practice and called everyone on it to inform them that they had possibly been exposed to the virus. At no time did I divulge the participant’s name while doing so.
When my Principality Seneschal responded, she told me to notify everyone who had been at the practice – which I had already done – and to hang onto the contact tracing sheet in case the health department needed it. My Kingdom Seneschal’s initial response was to tell me that I didn’t have to inform anybody except as a courtesy, but it was nice that I had. It was not until much later in the day, the deputy Kingdom Seneschal informed us that the Society Seneschal “confirmed that contact tracing sheets, which Society states will only be given to Public Health, should not be used to contact individual participants. General, carefully worded warnings posted to Social Media are OK, but we can’t use the info on those sheets unless directed to by Public Health.”
This confused mess is of a piece with the entire process of reopening practices starting in mid June in my kingdom. At that time we were told masking would be required and that we were to collect contact tracing information – but given *no* guidance on what that information was supposed to be or what we were supposed to do with it. I knocked together a spreadsheet, duly collected names, etc. at my practices and saved the sheets. It was weeks later when someone (I believe it may have been the deputy Kingdom Seneschal) put together a sample tracing form with instructions to turn them over to our branch seneschals and published them on the kingdom website.
It took me the better part of a day to find out what to do in case of a self-reported positive test, precious hours that could be used to book testing appointments, self quarantine and prevent possible spread of a virus that does not care about rules, only to be ultimately told that doing the right thing was the “wrong” thing.
I’m a marshal. My job is to keep people safe. I am allowed to tell a fighter that their equipment is not safe to use. If a fighter’s behavior on the field is unsafe, I can warn them to change the behavior, I can pull them off the field, I can even revoke their authorization card. As my kingdom’s Royal Rapier Marshal, I can even publish rules stricter than the Society standard if I deem it necessary to keep people safe. But I’m not allowed to pick up a phone and say, “You may have been exposed to Covid-19 Thursday night.” We’re not allowed to say, “Proof of vaccination is required to attend in-person activities.” (The only reason we can require masks in my area is because state and local government already do and the Kingdom is in compliance.)
As the Delta variant spreads, more and more businesses are requiring proof of vaccination to enter them or to work in their locations, insurers are raising rates on the unvaccinated. Being unvaccinated is an unacceptable risk. Further, my employer sends me daily emails reporting any positive Covid cases at any jobsite in the company as required by law.
As a private organization, the SCA can choose to require proof of vaccination and masking – and has chosen not to.
I accept certain risks as a fighter. I can mitigate some of them by keeping my kit well maintained and safe, by calling holds when I see a hazard, even by declining to fight if the situation warrants. I can get vaccinated and wear a face mask, but I can’t see a virus. We simply do not know enough about breakthrough infections in the vaccinated population yet. Covid-19 doesn’t care about honor or choice or whether someone might sue: it exists to spread and it’s really good at it.
My job as a marshal and as a peer is to protect my friends and the SCA is making it harder to do than it should.
We can do better and we must.
Saionji no Hana, OL, Royal Rapier Marshal
Kingdom of the West
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Response from the Board of Directors:
I’m so sorry that you were exposed to coronavirus. I hear the frustration that you just feel in these words you have written even though it’s tough, usually, to sense tone in an email.
I am Gigi and Friday is my day to respond personally to the emails we receive, although each director reads every email we get. We rotate days to do this so you know you’ve been heard, but more than that, so you know we are listening.
The next time we discuss our policy the words you have shared here will be considered. You’ve made some good points and by sharing this example you give us an idea of how our guidelines are or are not working well in practice.
Take care and thank you again.
Best,
Gigi Coulson, MS
Director Seat A, SCA
Ombudsman for Æthelmearc, Avacal, Drachenwald, Ealdormere, Lochac, and the corporate DEI Officer
931-639-9337
Maestra Giata Magdalena Alberti, OL
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