Delta
July 29, 2021
Dear members of the RC Community,
The COVID pandemic continues to evolve and it is clear that we will not soon be free of the need to think about this. Many parts of the world still have little or no real access to the vaccines that have been developed. Many places that have had access to vaccines have not been able to quickly vaccinate a high percentage of their citizens, for various reasons. So, the virus continues to exist, continues to spread, and continues to mutate into more infectious variants. There is a rising number of people who are being infected by these new variants even after they have been fully vaccinated. We have all tried to think well about this situation for ourselves, our families, our communities, and all humans. It appears that Co-Counselors have discharged and thought enough to handle this circumstance well, though we have had losses. It appears that all of us, vaccinated or not, are going to have some vulnerability to COVID for a substantial length of time.
A long time ago I asked the Communities to stop holding in-person activities because it provided too many opportunities for COVID to spread. I think this helped keep the losses in our Communities to a small number. I more recently asked Communities to think together about in-person activities and to develop and come to agreement on policies for their Community. I took this step because I want every one of us discharging, thinking, and contributing our thinking on these matters. It is important that Communities learn to think together on difficult issues, and use what we know about discharge to make this function more and more smoothly. This was before I was aware that the Delta variant poses such an increased risk.
Given the current information available on the rapid and increasing spread of the Delta variant, and the increases in the number of fully vaccinated people who become infected, I wish to request that the RC Communities not plan to hold in-person workshops until after the end of this calendar year. I would also like Communities to freshly consider their policy about in-person RC activities in light of this developing situation. We are not done with COVID and as conditions change, we must think freshly again and again.
I’m very pleased that we have each other as human, caring resources to figure things out together.
With love and appreciation,
Tim
TJ/ds