ArtSpring! 2009 was a wonderfully exciting celebration of inclusive arts – and it almost didn’t happen because of swine flu. As they say, timing is everything; this year’s event was May 5th and 6th, just at the beginning of this pandemic episode. As things began to develop, I kept a close eye on the news; I knew it was only a matter of time before it showed up in our state, but I kept hoping it wouldn’t hit our area first. (How naive, really; we ARE an international travel hub.)
Of course it did hit here – and pretty fast with numbers quickly reaching 25+. Several schools had been closed immediately upon suspected exposures, and confirmation from the CDC would be days away. Public health experts on the national level were advocating a “social isolation” strategy – keep people away from each other to limit exposures and transmission. People didn’t seem to be panicking, but there wasn’t a lot of public discussion of the best overall prevention strategies (beyond hand-washing and staying home when ill.)
In the midst of this, we were planing to bring hundreds of children with disabilities, from more than 20 different schools, into a public place to share arts materials. As I considered the wisdom of this, I couldn’t decide if I was being overly cautious or responsibly prudent. Just one exposure could potentially cause widespread illness in a possibly medically-vulnerable population (not to mention all the families and school populations.) But being overly cautious would deprive an already under-served community of valuable arts opportunities. How do you explain to a child they can’t come make art because they “could possibly” get sick?
I talked to as many experts as I could: public health, school officials, even a Seattle Center disaster coordinator. No one would tell me what they thought I should do, although they answered my many questions with patience and an appreciation for the decision to be made. I kept wanting to hear that there were some kind of strategic options being discussed somewhere – if this had turned out to be a more serious health threat, it would be nice to know that public health and governmental officials had discussed and agreed on widespread mitigation methods (such as social isolation strategies.) It didn’t really seem that was happening here; although as it turns out, our Seattle/King County area has been recognized nationally as being the most prepared for a public health emergency. In the position I found myself around this situation, I could not easily find appropriate officials to properly advise me; had this been a more serious situation, that might have had serious consequences.
However, in the end, it was pretty clear we should proceed with the event. We provided hand sanitizer in visible locations and sent out an email to teachers with reminders about proper hand-washing, not bringing students who were ill, etc. Staff kept a look-out for anyone exhibiting signs of illness and attendees were advised that anyone with symptoms would be sent home. (No one attending presented any signs of illness.) Several parents chose not to send their children because of heightened susceptibility, and one school that had been closed did not attend. Overall, however, attendance over the 2 days was up from last year and more individual schools sent students. As far as we know, there were no exposures attributed to attendance at the event and, apart from staff exhaustion <smile>, there were no negative health consequences for anyone.
As they say, timing is everything; next year’s event is scheduled for May 4th and 5th. Please – nobody sneeze that weekend!