As most of you are probably aware, the City of Asheville declared a local state of emergency on Thursday, March 12 and put a limit on gatherings of 100 people or more starting today. In addition, the state’s health department has requested that all gatherings with more than 100 people who will be within six-feet of one another be canceled and has recommended we all practice social distancing. While Fun Night does not draw a crowd of 100, it does typically include 50 or more. In hard hit areas in our country, where testing is more available, gatherings have already been limited to 50. Asheville is currently waiting on the results of COVID-19 tests and, as of March 12, due to limited resources has only been able to test a total of 9 people. This tells us that the level of outbreak locally is entirely unknown. Until we have more information regarding the situation in our city, it seems prudent to act as we would if the numbers were high and move ahead with strategies that are proving effective in the hard hit areas. This includes limiting gatherings and practicing social distancing. While we can implement social distancing in our structured classes, it is impossible to enforce it within our current fun night structure. We feel that out of a need for an abundance of caution it is the responsible and ethically correct decision to cancel fun nights for this weekend.
For now, we are only canceling Fun Night for March 13th and 14th. We will continue to watch the situation unfold and will update you as soon as we make a decision for the following weekend. Please know that this decision is extremely hard for us. We know that both parents and children rely on Fun Nights and the program brings us so much joy, but it is important that we make decisions that are in line with countries that have been able to slow the spread of COVID-19. In all of these countries, measures were put in place early. It is easy to feel out of control in this situation, but the truth is that we can all help contain this and flatten the curve. The only way to do that is by making these hard decisions. If we all work together and make the hard decisions now, maybe we will be dealing with the fallout for a shorter period of time. We encourage you all to avoid crowds and do whatever you can to slow the spread of COVID-19. These strategies will protect our most vulnerable population and will keep our healthcare system from becoming overloaded and unable to help those who need it.
Please continue to check your email and follow us on Facebook for faster updates. Thank you for your continued support and please stay well.
Becca and Angie