President Whitham's Reunion Statement

 6MAR22

As you all may have seen, the COVID front is changing prompting the CDC to implement new health condition guidance.  The COVID-19 community level here and in the immediate counties around Norfolk is Low, which means there are no mandatory masking or testing restrictions in place.  In fact, this area (Norfolk/Virginia Beach) has been in steady decline since just after the surge of the omicron variant.  Our military has followed suit as well with removing masking and testing restrictions for those bases that are in areas that meet the low COVID-19 community level.

Because of this change in landscape, I called a meeting with the board of directors to discuss our reunion preparations and have a specific discussion on whether we should ease the mandatory vaccine restrictions which we had put in place in the fall when COVID was surging once again.  There was a lot of great discussion on the topic, and while we hope and wish that everyone in attendance will be vaccinated, we felt given the current environment that to remove the mandatory vaccine restriction was a prudent and relatively safe course of action.


The entire board believes in the trust that, as shipmates, if you aren’t feeling well, you’ll take the appropriate course of action, whether you are vaccinated or unvaccinated.  Being vaccinated with a booster shot doesn’t guarantee that you will not catch COVID, and I am proof of that.  Let us all hope that the community conditions don’t change, and this terrible pandemic is in our rear-view mirror! 

 

In short:

·         No vaccinations required to attend the reunion

·         Masks will not be required, but please feel free to wear a mask if you desire

·         Currently no state or local restrictions in the area whatsoever