We recognize the novel coronavirus pandemic and response to it has evolved significantly since we last commented on the situation. Counties in California are moving through the phases of reopening (and reclosing where needed), and we recognize that people have been making personal risk choices based on their home situations and going caving with people in their “bubbles”.
Caves are small enclosed spaces (especially in California), and the research shows us that this is a more dangerous environment for novel coronavirus to spread. Closing caves is not the answer, and we stand with the NSS on this issue. We recommend our members who choose to cave communicate their personal risk tolerances and minimize the risk of transmission as much as possible by caving in smaller groups and wearing masks. At meetings, members may report on the caving and other related activities that they’ve participated in recently.
Because of the risks caving presents to the spread of this deadly disease, SFBC will continue to have virtual members’ meetings and events for the foreseeable future. We will continue to evaluate this regularly, and as of this time there will be no SFBC-organized trips, and trip leaders should not advertise trips on this email list (as it lends our implicit support to the activity).
We realize that SFBC-led trips and events are an important way for new cavers to get into the sport, and we regret that this decision limits our ability to grow our community through caving. We are committed to fostering better community online, and there are a number of avenues for this:
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You can join us and other cavers in the NSS slack ( join.slack.com/t/nsscaves/shared_invite/zt-4wa6m22r-y2KfWUtu9wT~tNRkd1X8jg), channel #grotto-sfbc –
You can attend the NSS Virtual Convention next week ( nsscon2020.org/) –
We have a Facebook group (posts are open to the public, but you must join the group to post) ( www.facebook.com/groups/sanfranciscobaycaving) –
You can continue to attend our regular events which have been moved online, such as our members meetings every 4th Tuesday (next week: Sonia’s presentation on caving in China) and virtual vertical practices (every 1st Tuesday) –
If you have an idea for another event, like our virtual cave trips (watching cave documentaries), or have other ideas of ways to build community, let any of the execs know! We will happily work with you to make these a reality.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, constructive criticism, or gratitude, you can reach us at execs@sfbaycaving.org.
Best,
SFBC Exec Committee
Rafael, Carly, John, Sonia, and Theral