CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

I know many of you are concerned about the safety of our April NSDA Taiwan Members' Invitational. I had opposite voices; some telling me to cancel this tournament; some telling me to go ahead with it; the latter was the vast majority; but, unanimous was the call for safety measures; and, we have come up with the following precautionary measures.

First of all, it's not going to be a huge tournament, about half the size of what it used to be - previously about 30 rooms down to only about 15/16 rooms based on our latest number of registration. Our small ADL tournaments use 15 rooms, so it's not going to be really too big at all.

1. We have asked the NTNU to arrange the 15 - 20 rooms we are using at every floor of NTNU to distance one another.

2. We will also be opening up all windows of rooms we use.

3. No opening/Award ceremonies to avoid close contact with other people.

4. We will live stream speeches of TAS coach Chase Williams, 2020 NSDA outstanding seniors, and our special guest during lunch time, so people can listen to them from outside via their phones.

5. U.S. Judge Brandon Chen will arrive 3/17 Tuesday to make sure he's okay for 14 days before the tournament.

6. Special guests from Harvard and Stanford have already cancelled their trip thus won't come to Taiwan because their universities banned all debate related travels.

7. We have also cancelled all other U.S. judges.

8. All the judges will be mandated to wear masks.

9. All the staff will be mandated to wear masks.

10. At the entrance, everyone's temperature will be taken and require people to wear masks.

11. However, contestants, during the rounds, upon gaining permission from everyone in the room can take off their masks temporarily to be able to speak better.

12. Tournament will also start a bit later and end earlier this year so people will be well rested.

13. NSDA Canvas will be placed outside, so people can take their pictures outside individually with their awards.

DISCLAIMER: I have to caution you, however, that I cannot guarantee this tournament will not be cancelled for some unforeseen situation in the next couple of weeks, so please bear that in your mind and forgive me if I must do so for everyone’s sake.

What we need a lot of nowadays is prayers that we might be able to have a safe, fun, educational tournament afterall for all of our deserving kids who have been preparing diligently for this. We must also pray for all other people in the world who are either afflicted or affected adversely by the virus.

Thank you all very much for your concerns, your courage, and your love for debate!