I strongly agree with the concerns expressed by Directors Tiemstra and Baker, and I do not support “forcing" the candidates to come to this “semi” in-person meeting. As we attempt to go about League business on many levels (Board meetings, HQ staffing, hamfests & conventions, multi-person field organization and operating events), I encourage everyone on ODV to listen to the following free podcast on WebMD. It’s a July 30th “Health Now” interview with infectious disease expert Michael Saag, MD, from Birmingham AL. Both he and his physician son (at NYU) have had the virus — or still have it, depending on how you view “recovery”. It runs about 33 minutes, and every minute of it is worth listening to — but especially when Dr. Saag discusses the long-term nature of what our societal and social responses to this pandemic need to be if we are to survive it. Two sobering take-aways: 1. While you may think you have recovered from the virus within a few weeks or months, it may continue to irreversibly ravage your insides. So much for the utility of herd immunity! 2. It was six years from first recognized symptoms of HIV/AIDS until there was an effective treatment for prolonging the lives of those who contracted it. We can hope it won’t take that long this time around, but six months it ain’t! I no longer believe it reasonable to think it will be a matter of “only a few weeks or months” before we can safely travel to/from and gather in enclosed spaces in the ways we were accustomed to. If this turns out to be true, it affects all the activities I listed above — and many more than I haven’t even thought of or that will spring up (think virtual hamfests) in response to Covid-19. Further, in parallel with the process of selecting a new CEO I believe we on ODV should immediately begin the process of developing official alternatives to our current ways of doing business, including revision of our By-Laws, Rules & Regulations, Standing Orders, etc., as necessary, to make them responsive and relevant to the long-term presence of a pandemic virus. Bud, W2RU