Health and Safety Protocol

HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOL

* We ask that our community members prioritize health and safety above all other constraints during this tournament and always. We ask that all competitors and judges follow appropriate school, local, and state health guidelines when it comes to things like social distancing, masking, and handwashing for the duration of the tournament and beyond.

* The tournament does not have a mask mandate, but judges will be instructed to not penalize competitors who choose or need to wear a medical face mask (ie: N95, KN95, etc.) while competing.

* The tournament does not have a vaccine mandate, but the California High School Speech Association strongly encourages all community members to follow appropriate medical and scientific guidance. With a large event like ours, the guidance is clear that vaccination is the most effective way to keep our community as safe as possible.

* We ask that all teams bring and have available rapid, at-home Covid tests for your group (you can usually get these for free from your school site or district). Hopefully, you will not end up needing these items. That said, if anyone affiliated with your team is showing symptoms of Covid, the procedure will be as follows:

– 1: If you have brought Covid tests, the person showing symptoms will be asked to come to the tournament office and take a test in a private space. If negative, they may return to the tournament (though if they are otherwise sick, we will encourage them to mask) . If positive, they will be asked to put on a mask and leave the school site.

– 2: If you did not bring the self-supplied Covid test, the person showing symptoms will be asked to put on a mask and leave the school site. Please note: we will not have time to wait for someone to go buy a test, so please bring some tests with you to avoid folks being asked to leave.