When to re-open?

When should we open our doors for training again? I think the answer is obvious. Once the government lifts the lock-down, we should re-start the training sessions.

I don't think anybody believes the government is lax when it comes to Covid-19. They are taking it very seriously, getting the police and army involved to ensure compliance with the lock-down and imposing enhanced lock-downs in certain apartment complexes and certain ares where there have been a lot of infections.

If the government says it's safe to go back to doing sports and group activities, it should be signal that we can restart training.

There is a possibility some players might still feel uncomfortable training immediately after the lock-down is lifted. Some may want the new infection rate to go down all the way to zero before resuming training. That's understandable and we accept that. However, we should open our doors to those players who do feel it's okay to resume training once the government has given the green light to resume regular activities.

There are some safety measures we should observe pretty strictly once we resume training. There is no 100% guarantee that these measures will safeguard us from getting any infections but they will go a long way towards minimizing the likelihood of it happening.

Among the best practices we should adopt:
a) If you are not feeling well (fever, flu-like symptoms) you should alert the group and not come for training. Go instead to get treatment and ideally get tested.
b) If you have secondary exposure, you should self quarantine until you can verify the person with with primary exposure has tested negative.
c) It goes without saying if you have primary exposure to someone with Covid-19, you should self-quarantine until you get tested and the test has come out negative.
d) Wash feet with Dettol water and hands with sanitizer before entering the mat
e) If you need to sneeze, do not sneeze on the mat or onto your own judogi. Sneeze into your hands and immediately go to the restroom to wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds. Use a paper towel to dry off and use it to close the tap. For good measure, use the hand sanitizer when you return to the mat.
f) Take turns to mop the mat and crash pads after each sessions. I know this is troublesome but it can be done within 10-15 minutes. It's the least we should do to keep the place as hygienic as we can.

In life, there is no 100% guarantee. Short of hermetically sealing ourselves off from the world, we can't ever be 100% sure we won't get any infection for Covid-19 or any other contagious diseases. But we can take precautions and adopt best practices to limit the chances of it happening. So, let's wait for the lock-down to be lifted, adopt some best practices for our training sessions and try to get on with life as best we can.