June 2023 COVID Survey - MondayContras.com

A message from your organizers on Friday, 7/14/2023:

We’ve analyzed the 102 replies to our community survey on masking (see below). The survey showed that a large proportion of our active community, plus a significant number of people who have not been attending recently, support or desire mask-optional events. However, other loyal members of our community are uncomfortable with this change.

To address the wishes of all our community and foster the viability of our series, we’ll be trialing both mask-required [MASK REQ] and mask-optional [OPT Mask] events for July-September 2023. The SECOND calendar Monday of each month will be mask-required. Each event’s mask status will appear clearly in publicity. Attendance and revenue figures from each event type will inform future policy.

This is our current plan, subject to change. We’re following up with performers to ensure they’re scheduled for conditions they’re comfortable with. We continue to monitor COVID data and will adjust our policy if necessary.

Our revised health policy is (briefly summarized) as follows:

For mask-required events, N95 or equivalent commercial masks are mandatory in the hall. Performers only have the option to “test out” for the stage.
For mask-optional events, masks of any form are welcome, as are participants without masks.
Vaccination is encouraged but we will no longer check status for admission.
If you feel sick in any way or have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 since the past event, please stay home.
If you test positive for COVID-19 within 10 days following our event, please let us know so we may confidentially inform others.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we navigate this evolving situation.

Survey results summary (there's a page with just this table for easier viewing):

Count	How many Monday Contras events have you attended since we restarted in May of 2022?	Have you stopped attending our events due to the N95/ equivalent mask requirement?	If we KEEP the current N95 or equivalent MASK REQUIREMENT, how frequently would you attend going forward?	If we REMOVE the MASK REQUIREMENT, how frequently would you attend going forward? (We'd still welcome those who choose to mask and continue our excellent ventilation.)	If we were to ALTERNATE Mask REQUIRED & Mask NOT REQUIRED events, would you likely attend:	Primary Observations
88 Dancer Responses	None = 21 1 to 5 = 38 6 to 10 = 12 11 or more = 17 so [1 or more] = 67	Yes = 21 (14 never att'd) (7 had att'd 1+) No = 67	Each = 15 Monthly = 17 [Regular] = 32 Occasionally = 28 [Attend] = 60 Won't = 28	Each = 23 Monthly = 20 [Regular] = 43 Occasionally = 35 [Attend] = 78 Won't = 10	Both/Either = 38 NOT Req = 34 REQ = 16 EitherNOT = 72 EitherREQ = 54	A significantly higher number are passionate re: not requiring masks (Won't attend values). Taken at their word, there's an approximately 33% upside in attendance possible by including these folks. Fewer people are passionate about requiring masks. For aggregation: [Regular] = Each + Monthly counts [Attend] = Regular + Occasionally counts EitherNOT = Both/Either + Not Required EitherREQ = Both/Either + Mask Required.
67 Participant Dancers	[1 or more] = 67	No = 60 Yes = 7	[Regular] = 29	[Regular] = 31	Both/Either = 36 NOT Req = 18 REQ = 13 EitherNOT = 54 EitherREQ = 49	This group includes all folks who have danced with us at least once during COVID times. More than half of these folks now support optional vs. required masks.
29 Most Frequent Dancers	[6 or more] = 29	No = 29 Yes = 0	[Regular] = 21	[Regular] = 18	Both/Either = 23 NOT Req = 0 REQ = 6 EitherNOT = 23 EitherREQ = 29	Not surprisingly, those dancing most often at masked events have the strongest passion for masks and we want to continue supporting these folks. Even so, the majority of respondents would attend Mask Optional events (Both/Either).
88 Most Engaged (performers, MC email list, FB group)	[1 or more] = 72	No = 66 Yes = 6	[Regular] = 29	[Regular] = 31	Both/Either = 42 NOT Req = 16 REQ = 14 EitherNOT = 58 EitherREQ = 56	This group includes performers, folks subscribed to our MonCon email list, FB page, etc. We did not get sufficient performer response in the short window provided so are seeking more replies currently. Once more, a very significant proportion of this group supports mask optional dances.

A message from your organizers on Friday, 6/23/2023:

Dear Monday Contras Community,

We’re facing an existential challenge and need higher attendance to continue running our Monday series. We believe that the problem is not with our talent or other factors, but rather a result of people's perspective on COVID measures.

We implemented health measures when restarting the series last year, and a majority of people wanted them to continue when last surveyed. However, much has changed with COVID and society since then, and part of what's impacting our attendance are the evolving desires of our community.

Some former regulars have moved to other dances without mask/vax requirements and some current participants have been increasingly asking when things will change. Other participants want masking to continue. Newcomers who were unaware of our measures have been deterred at the door and may not have returned due to the mask/vax requirements.

COVID vaccination has now evolved to a yearly event, much like the flu shot, and our prior booster requirement is no longer viable. Similar area dances are removing their vaccine requirement beginning in July – we'll follow their lead on that.

We want to know our Monday community’s position regarding mask policy. Regardless of any arguments on the pros and cons at this point, we simply need to know how many will participate in our series with or without a mask requirement.

To help us set a forward plan, please complete our masking survey by Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (was extended to July 2nd). We ask that only those who have a sincere interest in attending Monday dances at the Concord Scout House reply. We'll publish the survey results in time for our July 10th dance and announce any potential policy updates at that time.