Shadowmoor Health & COVID Safety Policies
During the ongoing COVID pandemic, activities which bring large numbers of people into close contact for an extended period of time - such as a weekend-long LARP event - are all high-risk activities that present an increased likelihood of an attendee contracting and spreading COVID.
There is no safety measure Shadowmoor LARP can implement which will reduce the risk of contracting or transmitting COVID as part of an event to zero. Many members of our community have weakened immune systems and are at higher risk of serious effects from contracting COVID. This includes the game owners and several members of the Steering Committee, and as such we do not take this risk lightly.
While Shadowmoor LARP is taking all reasonable precautions to minimize the chance of an event becoming a place where COVID spreads, we recommend that any potential attendees assess their own risk tolerance, health and safety needs, and the needs of their families and local communities before attending.
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If you are not prepared to fully apply all the below precautions in good faith, and enthusiastically take all reasonable additional measures to keep those around you as safe as possible, then we respectfully request that you wait to join us until such time as aggressive COVID safety measures are no longer required.
COVID POLICY
Vaccination
In order to attend a Shadowmoor event in any capacity, the attendee must adhere to the following minimum requirements for COVID vaccination. Attendees must provide:
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Proof of vaccination status (see section 1 below)
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No symptoms of or known exposure to COVID within past 5 days prior to an event
If an attendee is unable to be fully vaccinated for medical reasons, a request for exception may be made to vaccinations@shadowmoor.org. If approved, the attendee will need to provide proof of a negative COVID test and meet the other requirements as detailed below. Medically exempt unvaccinated attendees will also be required to mask onsite at all times, with a mask using an approved N95 or better filtration system.
No exceptions to this policy will be offered for non-medical reasons.
Verification of Vaccinated Status
Each attendee must verify their full vaccination status prior to attending an event.
“Fully vaccinated” means the attendee must have received the full regimen of vaccinations for the relevant vaccine type, plus a waiting period of at least two weeks following the last vaccine.
At this time, a booster shot is not required but is encouraged in the strongest possible terms, and may become a requirement in the future.
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An attendee may verify their vaccination status in person by presenting a fully completed CDC vaccine record card showing their name.
OR
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The attendee may send a record of the same to vaccinations@shadowmoor.org (see “Required Information” below for guidance) in advance of the event.
At this time, this documentation is only required once; however, Shadowmoor reserves the right to update these requirements to adhere to changing guidance from the CDC and other global medical professionals. (The concept of “fully vaccinated” may become “vaccinated and regularly boosted”, and we’ll be aggressively adopting that for the safety of our community.)
No symptoms or known exposure within past 5 days prior to the event
This requirement is fairly self explanatory. If you aren’t or haven’t been feeling well for any reason, or have knowingly been in contact with someone who has COVID, please don’t attempt to attend an event.
Temperature checks may be performed onsite at each event at the discretion of staff.
REQUIRED INFORMATION
Required Information for Vaccine Verification
For vaccination verification sent to vaccination@shadowmoor.org, the only required identifying information is your name and completed vaccination/test dates and results. Please make sure these are clearly legible.
Attendees may (and are encouraged to!) block out any other sensitive or personally identifying information/phone numbers/DOB/SSN/etc.
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This information will be seen only by the Shadowmoor game owners, and will be kept private and confidential. To the best of our ability (Google retention policies notwithstanding), no images will be kept on record after receipt - we will delete all such information within 48 hours of processing.
If you are uncomfortable sending this record via email please contact vaccination@shadowmoor.org and we will work with you to arrange some other method of communication.
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Deadlines for Vaccination Verification
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You must provide vaccination information no later than the logistics deadline for the upcoming event (usually midnight of the Sunday prior to the event) so that we have time to arrange some alternatives or answer questions. Event deadline info will be posted before each event.
Required Information for Negative COVID Test if Medically Exempt from Vaccination
RECOMMENDED: Rapid At-Home Test (day of event ONLY)
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If you are taking a rapid at-home test, you must do so the day of the event.
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Please don’t bring your used test card to site! The actual results won’t be legible by the time you get there.
Instead, please take a clearly legible picture of the test results, along with something that has your name written or printed on it, immediately after your test is complete. You may either email it to vaccination@shadowmoor.org no later than 12pm of the day of the event, or bring the picture to site for check-in.
No tests will be provided on-site. If you attempt to check in without a valid test, we’ll provide any applicable refund for your event pass and ask you to come back next event.
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IF NEEDED: Lab-Processed Antigen or NAAT Test (in advance, with limitations)
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This is very tricky in the current environment!
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Because the incubation time of the current prevalent Omicron variant is only ~3 days, if an attendee takes an antigen or NAAT test and it takes the lab several days to process it, they may unknowingly come to an event with an active infection even though they weren’t sick when the test was taken.
Because Shadowmoor events run for three days (Fri-Sun), we can only accept a lab-processed test if it is both taken and fully processed same day, Thursday or Friday the week of the event. This is obviously a very small and inconvenient window! But if you have the access to get a same-day test of this variety, we’ll happily accept it.
ON-SITE COVID SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
Check-In Temperature/Symptom Checks
At staff discretion, all attendees must undergo a temperature and symptom check at check-in of each event. Attendees running a fever or showing symptoms of COVID will be asked to remove themselves from attendance at the event.
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“LARP plague” is real, and doubly serious in the current global health situation! The best safety measure is prevention: if you are feeling unwell for any reason, please help protect the community, and don’t attempt to attend.
Mask Usage and Social Distancing
With all attendees fully vaccinated and tested, we are able to minimize the requirements for mask usage across most of site. However, there are a few areas where this is still important.
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Mask usage is mandatory for the duration of the event in the following locations:
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Inside cabins and sleeping quarters per the instructions of the occupants.
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Other situations as appropriate or guided by staff.
Mask usage is recommended if you are spending a large amount of time around many people in a small space (such as inside a cabin or guild building).
Social distancing is recommended, to the best of your ability, in the following locations:
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Congregating indoors in any location that is not your own private cabin
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Congregating outdoors in large groups outside of short-term combat
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Other situations as appropriate or guided by staff
We recognize that in some situations our ability to apply social distancing may depend on the situation. Our policy is to adjust activities and encounters to encourage social distancing if we find that the design of an activity prohibits it for any reason.
Masks and Makeup
Attendees playing characters with makeup requirements will not be required to wear or maintain makeup under the mask area, especially as the weather becomes hot and humid. Alternate makeup guidelines will be available as needed to ease the adoption of COVID safety requirements.
SANITATION
Tavern
The Tavern will be adopting modified offerings and policies to promote safe preparation and consumption of food. Specific policies are TBD and will be updated here when finalized.
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Hand Sanitizer
Hand sanitizer will be made available in high traffic areas. We encourage regular usage of these stations or personal sanitizers as much as possible.
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Shared Costuming and Weapons (Monstertown)
Monstertown will be adopting modified guidelines to limit sharing of tabards and weapons, and regularly sanitization of any items which must be commonly used. Specific policies are TBD and will be updated here when finalized.
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Public Showers and Bathrooms
Bleach and bleach wipes will be provided for showers and bathrooms. All attendees will be expected to spray down stalls and wipe down sink areas after they are done using them.
Cabins
Cabin Assignments
Cabin assignments will be handled in a fashion to prioritize safety and limit “overloading” small spaces. This will mean that if possible, attendees will be asked to voluntarily arrange to share cabins with others who are already in a “social pod” outside of the event - this will minimize close long-term cross-contact with others who may not share similar immunization status.
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In some situations, arrangements for safety may need to take priority over “in-game” groupings.
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Visiting Other Cabins
We encourage outdoor visiting or use of outdoor tents to expand the safe/socially distant visiting space for a cabin.
If cabin occupants ask you to mask up when congregating near their cabin, please respond graciously and do so. They may not be as comfortable with closer social distancing as you are!
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Overall, attendees will be encouraged to minimize congregating indoors wherever possible, weather permitting.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Changes to Policies
Shadowmoor staff will continue to monitor CDC guidelines, general COVID spread status in the region, and other guidance from health professionals. The policies contained in this document may be adjusted in the future to reflect the best available information we have to promote safe event attendance.
Thanks!
Thank you to our friends at Awakening LARP for sharing their own safety policies and analysis of the current state of COVID safety.
Their assistance has been invaluable to help us contribute to setting a safe standard, and promoting LARP safety for Shadowmoor and other games in the region.