After consultation with my wife (and the threat of having to quarantine, in the garage, for 14 days upon return) I have decided not to travel to Denver. I see this as a large risk for the remaining candidates to travel from New England to Colorado and a risk for my fellow board members. We worked very well in our one day virtual board meeting. The PSC is getting work done in our monthly virtual meetings and we can do the same for CEO selection via Zoom. I think we would all prefer in-person, but I'm joining the bunch who say it's not worth the risk. I certainly respect any candidates who wish to stay at home and Zoom in. I welcome the online discussion vs. nothing at all. 73, Matt Holden KØBBC On Sun, Aug 2, 2020 at 12:07 PM Michael Ritz <w7vo@comcast.net> wrote:
Not that it matters, but my take is: Selecting the new CEO will most likely be the most important thing I will ever do as an ARRL Director, and that thought has some weight. At this point the decision has been made to do "live" interviews, and I'm sure plane tickets have been purchased by many. Yes, I absolutely agree the risk is not zero, but it is minimal. I believe staff have done what they can to mitigate risk, the rest will be up to individuals to ensure they follow the CDC guidelines; wear a mask when in public, and wash your hands often. We're not attending a wild college pool party here, we will mostly be in a very controlled environment. Business is still being conducted all across the country in this manner.
That said, for the first time EVER I purchased travel insurance for my trip. I also plan on bringing some quick MRE type meals with me to eat in my "socially distanced" room.
73; Mike W7VO
On 08/02/2020 5:57 AM Hippisley, George (Bud), W2RU, (Dir, RK) <w2ru@arrl.org> wrote:
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 _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
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