Revised CDC Guidance / 2021 Telluride Bluegrass COVID protocols

[alexbarbosa42]

New CDC guidance (as of today 5/13/21) on effectiveness of vaccines to allow dropping masks indoor and outdoors (no social distancing required either) Hard to imagine town allowing PB to add to attendance at this stage in the game and I'm not suggesting they should. Especially since PB applied to be a "minor festival" this year & not "major festival" making it even more challenging and creating more hoops to jump through to raise attendance.

Despite the fact that PB very much expected TBF to sell out the day rollover ticket holders got access to tickets, TBF has not sold out and we are now a full week into public on-sale, I wonder if they'd consider:

1) dropping designated corrals & moving to traditional GA seating, HELLO TARP RUN
- as stated in earlier forums, our tarps are essentially "corrals" & we typically hang around with our groups at the tarp. Of course, we like to bounce around to other groups & mingle and PB was ALREADY (w/ the current regulations) going to let us do that anyway “We understand that it’s a lot to ask people to stay inside of a 12-by-12, roped-off space all day. Ten-person pods, won’t be expected to remain exclusively in their original corral, with some flexibility permitting festivarians to intermingle with other friends." -- G. Barrett, comms coordinator for PB

2) allowing individual/solo ticket sales (even if just to get it to current approved cap at 2,500)
- PB could do this by allowing people stuck with unfilled corrals/unused camping to sell back to PB for solo/single days. Then those people can just get the # of wristband that they actually want/paid for. That will free up some ticket inventory. There are quite a few people stuck with a huge financial burden right now that are starting to get worried they'll have to eat the cost.

On Tuesday, Telluride Town Council motioned the approval to drop the outdoor mask mandate in town. San Miguel County emergency order expires in 2 weeks. We will see how town council reacts.

Given that we are a month out and that key metrics are quickly & clearly moving in a positive direction nationwide, I figure the conversation is worth having.

[greg_from_aa]

As soon as I read about the new CDC guidance, my thoughts turned to TBF.

The kicker (in my behind, at least) is that a key element of the guidance is tied to folks who are vaccinated.

For full disclosure, I am vaccinated. But there are folks, for various reasons, who aren't, don't want to and/or are reluctant to do so. Not wanting to judge here.

I have a couple of good friends who do cutting research in immunology, and they explained it to me in such concise, simple terms: the virus thrives on new hosts, from which it can mutate.

To this end, I just don't know who in the beautiful throng of Festivarians is not vaccinated. Being in an 'age-risk' group and having an immune-compromised family member, the risk is too high for me and my family. Having the vaccine can mitigate the deadly effects of acquiring the virus, but spending the TBF or the trip home laid up (albeit not needing to be hospitalized), would suck.

See y'all in 2022.

Be well and take care.

[BillyBeru]

I received an email from the Planet regarding RockyGrass Academy today. They appear to be taking a conservative approach (this event immediately precedes RockyGrass in late July). Given this tone, I'm guessing they will not open up or change TBF too much in terms of attendance or comingling. But hey man who knows!

"Based on current health recommendations, we plan to enforce the following COVID-19 policies: We will require that all students, guests and staff be fully vaccinated before attending the Academy. In addition, we intend to ask that masks be worn while indoors and in any congested areas. This includes the Wildflower Pavilion, the workshop classroom (location of the vocals class) and the registration tent. We also plan to provide extra space in the campground. Most importantly, we will support the needs of instructors and students to feel safe and comfortable at all times. "

[alexbarbosa42]

I received an email from the Planet regarding RockyGrass Academy today. They appear to be taking a conservative approach (this event immediately precedes RockyGrass in late July). Given this tone, I'm guessing they will not open up or change TBF too much in terms of attendance or comingling. But hey man who knows!

"Based on current health recommendations, we plan to enforce the following COVID-19 policies: We will require that all students, guests and staff be fully vaccinated before attending the Academy. In addition, we intend to ask that masks be worn while indoors and in any congested areas. This includes the Wildflower Pavilion, the workshop classroom (location of the vocals class) and the registration tent. We also plan to provide extra space in the campground. Most importantly, we will support the needs of instructors and students to feel safe and comfortable at all times. "

Nice. Love to hear about The Academy & RG! A fun summer ahead, that's for sure!

To be clear, I am not at all hoping or calling for PB to add attendees. I am just curious if they would consider following the science and updated guidelines as they come and if they'd be willing to be flexible on adjusting precautions given the way things are going, should the town of Telluride loosen their own restrictions. If they kept the attendance as it currently is, would we have MORE space to distance ourselves if they took away corrals? Doesn't the available square footage per person drop when you take away available space to make for extra walkways + space between corrals? Just thinking.

[alexbarbosa42]

Red Rocks officially opening up to full capacity (9,545) June 21st. Red Rocks will be capped at 6,300 starting today (May 17th) thru June 20th.

[alexbarbosa42]

San Miguel County dropping COVID restrictions/following CDC & State guidelines. Town of Telluride/town council has called for a special meeting tomorrow at 3 to discuss. They will likely follow suit.

those conducting events of more than 500 in attendance are no longer required to submit plans for the health department’s approval. -- should make it a little easier for PB to relax distancing measures, should they choose to align with CDC/local guidance. 

[culasthewiz]

Thanks a ton for staying on top of all of this, Alex!

[alexbarbosa42]

Telluride Town Council just met in a special call meeting at 3 PM today and unanimously voted to repeal the town's emergency ordinance which required masks indoors.

[Pass Port]

Telluride Town Council just met in a special call meeting at 3 PM today and unanimously voted to repeal the town's emergency ordinance which required masks indoors.

 
Getting interesting now! 

[alexbarbosa42]

Telluride Town Council just met in a special call meeting at 3 PM today and unanimously voted to repeal the town's emergency ordinance which required masks indoors.

 
Getting interesting now! 

Good things are happening! Now if only PB would 86 the corrals.

[Darkhorse]

I agree the corrals got us to this point with the town, but as the town eases restrictions so too should the planet...lets keep our fingers crossed and stay positive either way

[BillyBeru]

I'm betting the Planet is not going to change the corral structure as there are some people out there, I'm guessing, who bought tickets because of those corrals and want that peace of mind.

[BuckeyeDog]

Have to agree with Billy here. If you have sold tickets specifying certain conditions, it may not be ethical (or even legal) to change the rules after the fact, even though the mask mandates are being lifted.
What I think we should encourage PB to do is to try to set up some Elks Park shows during the day for the duration. Not just on the weekends but even on the weekdays when there are no acts on the main stage. All outdoors and no corrals needed. Should be safe for all.

[Darkhorse]

...if it is not legal and anyone tries to bring legal action to the Planet for trying to make a better more inclusive experience when clearly the science is supporting that making it more inclusive is safe; then they can bring that action and it can get swatted by the music gods imo...any person doing such a thing shold not be apart of the community imo...

I say majority rules on this one, let the nay corral votes hold up in court..things are different now.  Either you are vaccinated and you care about others or you don't.  The science is pretty simple at this point...lmk if anyone thinks otherwise.

[FaceOnMars]

Gosh, I'm going to have to agree with Billy too ... at least in so far as my bet that PB will likely stick with their original plan.

Having said that, I'm OK with Red Rocks having upped their capacity mid-stream for the upcoming Bob Weir and Wolf Bros shows.   I bought my tickets when the capacity was at 2.5k and now I believe it's around 6k.   I believe a similar thing happened with cheese tickets at Red Rocks:  when I put in for lottery it was at 2.5k, but it will be full capacity day of show.

As far as legal aspect:  I haven't read the fine print, but I suspect there might be some flexibility built into the purchase agreement that would allow for some changes if conditions warrant.

Perhaps there's a way to forumlate a "hybrid" what would satisfy just about everyone?