Hi all,

I spoke with Father Anderson today after service. He fully expects an edict from "On High" tomorrow cancelling all services within the Diocese. He did say though, that should services be cancelled and the church closed, we are still welcome to come and ring should we desire. (He mentioned thinking it good for the neighbors to continue to hear the bells.)

With the current state of information, it is impossible to know how things will develop, but I'm inclined to let people continue to "vote with their feet" for Wednesday practice this week. I will demand that everyone wash hands before climbing up the tower, and to use hand-sanitizer generously and switch bells very sparingly. There is an alcohol spray bottle for the ropes, but I very much doubt its efficacy.

The decision about practice may change as new information develops. My own attendance is still undecided.
Please wash hands frequently and thoroughly.
And do stay healthy.

Best,
Austin

On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 7:45 PM Dale Winter <moikney@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,

just to confirm the situation as I understand it.

I have had a note from old North confirming that they need us to cancel all
ringing there til at least the end of the month; this is in line with what
Ed already found.

I wrote Jim at the Advent on Friday but have not heard back from him. As
best I can read from the advent website it seems that services are still on
there, and so I think those as wish can likely ring tomorrow. If you do go
in please be very sensitive to any requests from the church; they surely
have a lot on their minds at the moment. Please do not feel any obligation
to go and make up numbers.

Stay safe all,

Dale







On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 6:58 PM Michael Tartell <tartell@g.harvard.edu>
wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Greetings from St. Louis!  My plan was to mostly to stay out of the
> conversation because I didn't have any specific guidance.  However, with
> all due respect to Kat's friend's extensive rope knowledge, I wanted to add
> the following points:
>
>
>    - While technically sunlight does eventually kill viruses, this is not
>    useful for our purposes
>       - There's not much direct sunlight in the ringing room, and limited
>       reflected light won't have enough UV to be useful
>          - If you don't get a sunburn while ringing, chances are viruses
>          will be unharmed
>       - Direct sunlight won't help that much if someone touches it after
>       only a few minutes
>       - Alcohol-based disinfectants will work way better than sunlight
>
>
>    - Retrospective studies have shown that transmission of viruses on
>    surfaces did play a role in the first SARS outbreak
>
>
>    - Although the CDC guidance does state that "transmission [...]from
>    surfaces contaminated with the virus has not been documented," it
> states in
>    the same paragraph "Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by
>    disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19..."
>       - I suspect the standard for "documented" cases of transmission on
>       virus from surfaces is impractically high, and we won't know
> this for sure
>       until well after the outbreak
>       - It's hard to differentiate surface transmission from aerosol or
>       contact transmission
>       -
>
> https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/cleaning-disinfection.html
>
>
> From a practical standpoint, if someone is sick with no symptoms at
> practice, you could potentially become infected through multiple routes,
> one of which would be touching ropes.  Others would be aerosols (the virus
> is stable for at least 3 hours as an aerosol).  If cleaning ropes is
> impractical, not touching your face, covering your cough, and frequent use
> of handwashing and sanitizer would probably be sufficient.  There's good
> evidence that both handwashing and alcohol-based sanitizers are effective.
>
> My initial thought was that if we were concerned about ropes, we could
> spray them with rubbing alcohol (70% ethanol or isopropanol) from a spray
> bottle, then give them a wipe with a paper towel.  That would allow the
> ethanol to penetrate into the wool to a similar extent as our hands, and
> since it evaporates quickly, I would hope it wouldn't damage the ropes a
> lot and/or make them soapy while ringing.  However, I have no idea what the
> medium/long-term effect of alcohols would be on rope or wool.
>
> I suspect Old North cancelling everything has been this whole thing
> redundant, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents anyway.  Best of luck to all of
> you!
>
> -Michael Tartell
>
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>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 6:30 PM Richard Morse via Boston-change-ringers <
> boston-change-ringers@cosmos.phy.tufts.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi! Many thanks for asking about ropes — I think that sanitizer, and
> > washing hands, once Old North is back open, will have to suffice. (The
> > advice about a bend is probably not useful, as it would also imply
> removing
> > the tails currently there, which I am loathe to do…)
> >
> > I also, sadly, agree that days when we can’t eat on the Greenway are
> > probably not best served by eating in the Market instead.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Ricky
> >
> > > On Mar 13, 2020, at 12:46 PM, Katarina Whimsy <kdsorceress@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I talked to a friend of mine who knows a lot about ropes --here's his
> > > input:
> > >
> > > *"Linen is less structurally sturdy when wet, and can be damaged when
> > > drying if overstretched or not stretched enough." (I think this was him
> > > assuming we were able to fully wash the rope, I clarified about bell
> > towers)
> > >
> > > *"The best way to kill any viral or bacterial infection is to leave it
> to
> > > sit in the sun for a few days. That knowledge isn't Covid-19 specific"
> > >
> > > *"How heavy is the bell? If it's under 900lbs, then you attach fresh
> rope
> > > with a bend and avoid the whole issue between weeks" (A bend is a knot
> > that
> > > joins two ropes)
> > >
> > > *If it's just the covid-19 you're worried about, then it's really
> > overkill.
> > > Just make sure every person washes their hands with soap for 20 second.
> > > Make it part of the ritual of bellringing"
> > >
> > > *He dug up the CDC website which suggests covid-19 spread is *not*
> mainly
> > > through contaminated surfaces/objects.
> > >
> > > So I'm feeling reasonably confident about the "wash hands thoroughly
> upon
> > > tower arrival, don't touch face in tower, maybe spray rope surfaces
> with
> > a
> > > little disinfectant in between" plan.
> > >
> > > ***
> > >
> > > Something that hasn't come up and I think should be mentioned --I don't
> > > think it's a good idea for us all to do lunch afterwards in the public
> > > market. It's not very good for distances (so crowded, especially when
> we
> > > have many of us around a single table) and I don't think spending time
> in
> > > an enclosed environment that sees a LOT of tourists and travellers from
> > all
> > > over.
> > >
> > > My plan/hope tomorrow is to come in either T-with-cleaning-wipes or
> bike,
> > > and to pack my own lunch. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on
> the
> > > same.
> > >
> > > ~Kat
> > >
> > > On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 12:31 PM Danielle Morse <dmorsebell@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Michael was talking about something like this, though he still thought
> > the
> > >> alcohol wouldn't get enough into the ropes/sallies to properly
> > disinfect.
> > >> At least that's what I understood.
> > >> I have some rubbing alcohol at home, I'll try to bring it in on
> Sunday.
> > >>
> > >> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 12:22 PM Gregory Russell <gfr10598@gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> How about alcohol in a spray bottle, to spray on the ropes and
> sallies.
> > >> It
> > >>> would disinfect and improve grip, and should be safe for the ropes,
> > (but
> > >>> don't spray in people's faces).
> > >>>
> > >>> On Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 10:01 AM <lauradi@rcn.com> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>      I reached out to the change-ringers list about sanitizing
> ropes.
> > >>>> The general agreement is that one can't sensibly do it, but an
> > >>> interesting
> > >>>> fact I was given is that the virus can live less than three days on
> a
> > >>>> fabric surface, which I guess would include linen or wool. So from
> > >>> service
> > >>>> ringing to the next practice session, maybe the ropes will
> > >> self-sanitize?
> > >>>>     Everyone suggested
> > >>>> hand hygiene, someone else mentioned my idea of sticking to one rope
> > >> per
> > >>>> person.  I have decided to severely cut back my T usage , so I won't
> > be
> > >>> at
> > >>>> practice, but would suggest that someone clean the tower doorknobs
> and
> > >>> the
> > >>>> handrails at Old North after the 11 AM tour . (Dale - are they still
> > >>>> running tours?) and that everybody do the full hand wash before
> > heading
> > >>> up
> > >>>> to the ringing room.  I left a new roll of paper towels on the shelf
> > >>> above
> > >>>> the toilet last week.  Each person should dry with a fresh paper
> towel
> > >>>> instead of everybody sharing the same cloth hand towel (or using
> one's
> > >>>> clothing).  I also put a new box of tissues in the ON ringing room,
> > and
> > >>>> would hope that people would sanitize after tissue use or
> inadvertent
> > >>>> face-touching. And stop sticking fingers in the Cornhusker's bottle
> (
> > I
> > >>> may
> > >>>> be the only one who does that ).
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Laura Dickerson
> > >>>>
> > >>>> PS as a contribution to the popular list of songs to sing while
> > >> washing,
> > >>>> it seems that from rounds to back rounds is about the right duration
> > >>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxcyXE0TIBQ
> > >>>> although my favorite currently is Gloria Gaynor singing I will
> survive
> > >>>> while washing
> > >>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvqP5NRXf8g
> > >>>> -------------- next part --------------
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> > >>
> >
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> > >>>>>
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