Health and Safety Measures

Pretenders Health and Safety Measures for in person instruction – 2022-2023

• GENERAL HEALTH POLICY

  Please be sure you are extra vigilant especially with regards to COVID 19 symptoms, the Flu and the Measles as dance is a contact sport and these are highly transmissible illnesses. We strongly encourage all up to date vaccinations for all our dancers and we encourage all families to remind their children about good hygiene and a policy of not sharing food or drinks. If your child or household member is sick with a potentially contagious illness, PLEASE be mindful of our efforts to keep our community safe and healthy and ere on the side of caution. Keeping our germs to ourselves is vital to the health of all. If your child (or someone in your household) has tested positive for or has a known COVID 19 exposure your child must quarantine for 10 days and submit a negative PCR COVID 19 test result prior to returning to in person instruction. IF YOU ARE NOT 100% STAY HOME. All participants MUST be fever and symptom free for a minimum of 48 hours prior to returning to dance. Please notify us if your child is sick.

• COVID-19 CONTACT TRACING

  If your child or anyone in your household tests positive for COVID 19 you must notify The Pretenders Studio immediately so that we can take appropriate contact tracing steps and quarantine those potentially exposed. No shame, no blame and confidentiality will be respected. We will notify the entire studio community in the event of any positive tests and the day(s) and time(s) which the positive dancer was present. Please contact us to discuss guidelines on quarantine requirements based on your specific situation. As always, we will consult our medical team of advisors for guidance. Close monitoring within families will help keep everyone informed and safe. It is imperative that we are notified immediately of any positive cases in our community so that we can protect everyone efficiently and effectively to the best of our ability. We have immune compromised and high risk members of our Pretenders community and those still too young to receive the vaccination therefore, it is our communal responsibility to keep everyone safe and informed. ALL dancers and staff are required to be vaccinated against COVID 19 for in person instruction.

• MASKING AND SOCIAL DISTANCING

  ALL participants and staff will be masked while inside the studio until further notice. Please make sure your child has a well-fitting medical grade mask that they feel comfortable dancing in. We require all students to wear medical grade masks at all times when inside. If you need mask recommendations please reach out. Students will be able to go outside on the patio to take mask breaks, drink water or have a snack. This time will be supervised. Class sizes are limited this semester to ensure proper social distancing during all classes.

• VACCINATION POLICY

  ALL participants and staff who are eligible for the COVID 19 vaccine are required to show proof of their COVID-19 vaccine in order to participate in in person classes at The Pretenders Studio. Please contact us to submit your vaccine verification prior to attending in person instruction. Booster shots are currently recommended for certain age groups and our expectation is that each family stay up to date on all vaccinations including Covid 19 boosters when eligible. Updated vaccination record are required to have on file with the studio. Please send updated vaccination records upon receipt. Please do your part to keep our community safe and healthy. 100% of our staff is fully vaccinated.

• TRAVEL REPORTING, QUARANTINING & POST TRAVEL TESTING

  Anyone who has traveled domestically or internationally must report travel to The Pretenders Studio Inc. and antigen test for 7 days upon return. Students must present negative tests prior to returning to in person instruction. For questions on specific situations please contact the studio office.

• DISTANCE LEARNING OPTION

  As we learned during the shutdown, distance learning is a very successful and convenient option therefore, we are happy to offer zoom distance learning to any registered student who needs it. We’ve installed large screens and web cams in each dance studio and will continue to publish zoom links to classes whenever necessary. We hope this means dancers will never miss a step with us. If a dancer or household member isn’t feeling 100% we need that dancer to stay home to protect the health of others and now they have the option of not missing a class. If at any point a dancer feels more comfortable dancing from home during this challenging time they are welcome to log in from home and join us. Further, if a dancer is out of the area for any reason they can always log in from wherever they are to keep up. Please notify us by email 24 hours in advance if you are in need of a zoom link for your class and we will happily accommodate.

• DROPOFF/PICKUP

  In an effort to minimize crowding in all common areas, and to maximize the flow of fresh air through our open-air patio and pedestrian door, we will not be allowing anyone other than registered dancers and staff into the studio at this time. All dancers and staff will enter through the patio and exit through the pedestrian door. · Drop off protocol: o Please be about 10 minutes early for drop off so that we can temperature check everyone upon arrival and confirm submission of your self-screening survey. o EVERYONE will be required to submit a COVID self-screening survey daily. These must be submitted minimally 30minutes prior to your arrival at the studio. Registered students will receive the link via email. o Dancers, please arrive dressed and ready for class! This will help keep us on time and limit waiting for the restroom and congregating in the office. o Dancers, please leave all extra stuff in the car or at home whenever possible to avoid clutter in the office and so that packing up is quick and easy. Preferably you arrive ready with only a small dance bag in tow. · Pick up protocol: o Remain in your car until your dancer is escorted to you by one of our staff. o Please be mindful not to block the alley during drop off or pick up and circle the block if necessary to keep traffic flowing. o Dancers, please be mindful to pack up quickly so you are ready when your ride arrives. o Note: Classes will be 50min. so that there is time for the dancers in the prior class to gather their belongings and head outside for pick up, therefore, minimizing space and time shared with arriving dancers. This will allow our air purifiers to run on high in empty rooms for the next group about to enter. The studio’s commonly touched surfaces like barres and door handles will be disinfected during this time. Until further notice we cannot have dancers hang out in the office before, between or after classes. We appreciate your help in keeping things moving timely and safely. We hope to have the hang out ability back in the office again soon.

ADDITIONAL MODIFICATIONS WE HAVE MADE TO MAXIMIZE HYGIENE & SAFETY @ THE STUDIO

• State of the art air purification system

  Over the last year we’ve all become quite familiar with the ease at which a virus can pass through the air that we breathe, particularly indoors. At the studio, we started by installing HEPA filters into our existing HVAC system and we’ve since invested in a state-of-the-art air purification system, the Brondell Pro. Our Brondell Pro machines will run prior to classes starting daily, during every class and after the last class daily ensuring the cleanest possible environment to dance in. Brondell Pro Background: The creator, Dr. Roger Sze, has a background in airborne disease transmission. Dr. Roger has 14 years of research in air purification, has 30 published research papers on the subject, holds 4 patents, is a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and was both a former Environmental Consultant to the Hong Kong Productivity Council and Former Research Assistant Professor of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is considered an authority on the spread of airborne infectious diseases and how to mitigate them. Brondell Pro Design: The Brondell Pro Sanitizing Air Purifier was purpose built to protect people from airborne viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). To accomplish this goal, the Brondell Pro was designed to maximize airflow to efficiently destroy and eliminate viruses sanitizing the room’s air. Dr. Roger's patent pending HEPA filter provides the right amount of airflow needed to efficiently eliminate viruses from a room. The filter captures from .3 down to .01 microns in diameter. SARS-CoV-2 is .1 in diameter (well within their range). The HEPA filter has patent-pending AG+ technology formula embedded that captures and destroys the virus, completely eliminating it. Brondell Pro Testing: MRIGlobal has certified the Brondell Pro eliminates SARS-CoV-2 within 15 minutes in a real-world aerosolized test using live SARS-CoV-2 (not a surrogate). Besides being FDA approved as Class II Medical Device with an EPA registration number, the Brondell Pro is CARB certified showing no emitting harmful ozone. It is also ETL certified for internal electrical component safety. MRIGlobal is a trusted, independent, not-for-profit, contract research organization. MRIGlobal operates research facilities for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.

• Air flow

  Our full length roll up patio door, the pedestrian door, the studio doors and the windows atop the dance studios will be kept open to maintain fresh air circulation in our environment.

• Touch-less water access

  Our new touch-less Elkay water bottle filling station gives our dancers access to delicious, filtered water for optimal hydration with touch-less operation to minimize interaction with shared surfaces.

• Hand Sanitization

  Touch-less hand sanitizer stations are plentiful throughout the studio as are soap dispensers in our restrooms. The importance of hand sanitization will consistently be reinforced by staff.

• Studio Cleaning

  Shared surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected during and between classes and the studio will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly.