[woodcote]

One thing I've promised to do on this thread is to occasionally explain the thinking behind the club's caution. This thread isn't a blueprint for any other club apart from ours. At WHO, we have large attendances, racers (and family members) who are vulnerable, racers who are front line health and care workers, a significant number of young people who won't be vaccinated - and some of us have dodgy immune systems...

There's not much in the news about this latter group, so I thought I'd share this useful article published by National Geographic a couple of days ago, snappily titled "The complex situation for immunocompromised people and COVID-19 vaccines". It does give some useful insight from the USA, where there's a larger population and more research being done.

The blunt conclusion - “get vaccinated, act unvaccinated” - is also the advice being given to people with dodgy immune systems in the UK.

The wider implications for our club are summed up by an American hematologist interviewed in the article... “as a society I think we have an obligation to come up with strategies to prevent those [immunosuppressed] people from getting acutely sick so they can re-enter society like the rest of us are all ready to do. They’re just as ready as anybody else, and it’s terrifying to be in their position.”

That's why we'll be cautious over timing and also why we'll be insisting on measures - such as face coverings, hand hygiene and social distancing - that might not be commonly used elsewhere. That caution means we can all return safely together.