How the GFMA has changed in the face of COVID-19
Mask it up, buttercup!
It's not the most comfortable, we know, but it's a nice way to show you care about the potential harm you may cause your fellow citizens and community members. If you aren't a fan, consider it an unspoken password to enter the building.
Hand washing
There are two restrooms ready, soaping, and able to get hands squeaky clean. All students and instructors must wash before entering the lesson rooms.
Air quality
Since 2007, we've used (the recently made famous) MERV-13 rated air filters in our HVAC system. They are the highest rated filters available for our HVAC equipment and are changed monthly, despite the manufacturer's recommended three month replacement schedule.
Additionally, the system fans are (and have always been) ON whenever the building is in use as well as after hours to be sure everything is circulated and filtered.
Adjoining rooms
We've been able to rework some of our rooms to function in pairs so student and instructor can be in their own space, while still viewing the other room through glass doors or windows. Each room's audio is fed to the opposing room allowing line of sight and discussion in real time without the Zoom/Facetime/Skype latency that makes online lessons fairly dreadful.
Shared room
For those playing non-wind instruments that are comfortable playing in the same room with masks on, there are rooms available for that as well - all of which have opening windows for fresh air, if desired.