[BAS Newsletter] BAS and "Ending lockdown"

[Adrian Fowle (BAS Chairman)]

I wanted to set out for all our members the policy that Bromley Art 
Society has in response to the “opening up” in England scheduled for 
19^th July. Your committee has had a very intense debate on the issues 
which reflected many shades of opinion, which is probably representative 
of the wider Society’s views and indeed of the nation. On your behalf, I 
should like to thank the committee for their contributions and hard work 
on this topic on top of all the usual work of running the Society. I 
shall first state what we are going to do, and then for those that wish 
to read them, set out the reasons.


_First Friday demonstrations at Ripley_

As in previous years, we do not have a First Friday meeting planned for 
August. The next one will therefore be in September and will be online 
with Zoom. We have not yet made plans for subsequent months whilst we 
see what happens. We have discussed hybrid meetings, with some attending 
in person and some on line, but it is not yet clear that we have the 
resources to provide that. We would not be able to have refreshments as 
things stand.


_Art Matters meetings online_

These will continue in their present form, but probably only once a 
month and only for as long as interest is maintained.


_Wednesday Painting Sessions at Ripley_

These sessions are open to all members, but in practice there is a group 
of regular attendees whom we wish to prioritise until we can safely open 
them up further. We shall continue with three sessions of two hours each 
and six members per session as our basic model. However we shall try 
varying this, starting with some flexibility on letting up to nine 
members join per session in a gradual process to see how it feels. All 
participants must wear masks throughout a session – this is a slight 
tightening of the rules. Paul Stringfellow is principle organiser of 
these meetings and holds the booking system.


Please feel free to send your thoughts, criticisms, suggestions for 
improvement to me or any other member of the committee


-- 
*Adrian Fowle
Chairman, Bromley Art Society


*

*Our Reasons*


The wording below is entirely mine, but I hope I have captured the 
sentiments of the committee’s deliberations.


_Freedom, personal responsibility and safety_

The headlines are all about freedom, but the Governments’ actual advice 
is more nuanced. Several ministers have talked about wearing masks on 
crowded trains but not on quiet ones. Personal responsibility is a 
concept at odds with the fact that masks protect other people in the 
room more than the wearer. A community society like ours is a way of 
pooling personal responsibility to achieve a shared aim and we ask 
members to respect the Society’s rules.

On a personal note - Electing a working doctor as chairman during a 
health crisis has consequences, but members are free to change that at 
the next AGM or hold an EGM!


_Masks_

Most of the criticism of the unlocking arrangements centres around masks 
in crowded places. The criticism comes both from the health professions 
and from transport unions – many of whose members died in public service 
earlier in the pandemic.

I have heard it said that members cannot be expected to wear a mask for 
a whole 2 hour session. I routinely wear one for 11 or 12 hour shifts 
and am expected to communicate with patients including those who are 
hard of hearing or whose understanding of English is imperfect. I take 
it off only for brief periods to eat and drink. Other healthcare staff 
have far more onerous work than mine, in having to wear multiple layers 
of protection too. Get used to it!

The commonly available masks are designed to protect other people 
(originally patients) not the wearer. Masks to protect the wearer are 
more expensive and hard to put on properly. Wearing masks in the small 
studio at Ripley (Wednesday sessions) will reduce the risk to members, 
some of whom are in vulnerable groups. Some regular attendees at this 
group have had to stop going because of the lack of masks.


_The Risk _

The lowest estimate I have heard is that there will be a surge in Delta 
variant Covid cases of 50,000 PER DAY. Other estimates being used are 
100,000 per day or even 200,000 cases. Vaccines will make many of these 
cases much milder, possibly reducing the death rate from 1 in 100 to 1 
in 1000. However with such large numbers of cases that is still 50 – 200 
deaths per day in England, including in some people who were both 
previously healthy and vaccinated. The vaccines are not 100% effective. 
Some of those who do not die will still require admission to hospital or 
even ITU and the NHS is already struggling.

About 20% of people will develop long Covid, which lasts at least 12 
weeks and often much longer. That’s 10,000 to 40,000 people added per 
day to a pool of people who are economically unproductive, personally 
very unwell and further swamping the NHS. The less any of us contribute 
to that the better.

I have not seen direct estimates of how long this is expected to 
continue, but reading between the lines I think only a few weeks of 
“surge”. For some people the loss of livelihood in lockdown means they 
have to take these risks. Valuable and lovely as it is, no one depends 
on BAS for their livelihood and we can afford to wait a little longer to 
open up, especially as our online events have been so successful, and we 
have at least some capacity on Wednesdays.

__

_The Benefits_

Like the rest of the world, BAS members are fed up with living under 
Covid’s restrictions and want freedom. Being able to get out more, meet 
friends and socialise in person will be wonderful. Zoom (and its rivals) 
is brilliant and will remain for some things, but does not match the 
real thing. Creating and sharing art can be a very physical experience 
and we are missing out. Many of our members will have been lonely and 
possibly frightened during lockdown and freedom will be good. And yes I 
understand that not wearing masks will be an additional freedom. We have 
to recognise too that some people did not understand the necessity for 
the restrictions and lockdowns and regarded them as tyranny. It is not a 
view that I can develop empathy for, but the small proportion of people 
who hold it increase our wish to throw all caution to the winds.

_The Advice_

The formal advice from HM Gov for step 4 of the unlocking is at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-summer-2021-roadmap/coronavirus-how-to-stay-safe-and-help-prevent-the-spread 
<https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-summer-2021-roadmap/coronavirus-how-to-stay-safe-and-help-prevent-the-spread>

Here are some quotes that seem particularly useful to us

“The more fresh air you let into your home or other enclosed spaces, the 
less likely a person is to inhale infectious particles.”

“Wearing a face covering will reduce your risk and the risk to others, 
where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet in 
enclosed and crowded spaces.”

“You may choose to limit the close contact you have with people you do 
not usually live with. “

“We should … provide the opportunity and space for others to reduce 
close contacts if they wish.”

”Employers will still have a legal duty to manage risks to those 
affected by their business. “

(we are not employers of our members, but should still manage risks)

*
*
-- 
*Adrian Fowle
Chairman, Bromley Art Society
*
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