Coronavirus / COV-19

At the time of writing this, Coronavirus is sweeping the world, and countries are struggling to minimise its spread.

The key thing is that this is a serious disease. At present, 2 people are dying from it every minute in Italy; this would correspond to over 16 every minute in the USA; and here in the UK our death rates are matching Italy's, only we are 2 weeks behind.

Secondly, as there is no cure, the only way to control it is to stop social contact, so it can't be passed between people. Unrestricted, each person would typically infect 3 others, about twice as infectious as 'flu.

At present, with the virus out of control, and no treatment or vaccine, the only sensible and moral * do not attend or give any more pottery classes

• do not run or participate any communal firing activities
• do not attend or exhibit at any exhibitions or shows
• if an outlet has your work, consider whether it is morally acceptable for you to encourage it to stay open, and thereby infect others, by showing your work

Once the virus is more under control, it may be possible to open your studio to others. In this case, you need to both reduce the risk of introducing it into the studio, and then minimising the risk of others picking up the virus.

Current UK guidance (as of March 2020) is that if you have symptoms of a cough and/or temperature then you should self-isolate for 7 days, and any others in your household should also self-isolate for 14 days. Obviously nobody self-isolating should not go into a studio that others may enter during this period.

Because people may have the virus but be asymptomatic, you should assume that anyone entering the studio is a potential virus carrier, so the following personal precautions should be taken:

• keep a distance of 2m (6'6") between people, as this is the distance that the virus can be propelled by exhaling, coughing or sneezing. This also obviously precludes physical contact
• when entering the studio, people should wash their hands, and then again on leaving the studio. Hands should be washed for at least 20 seconds with soap or hand gel, and then dried with disposable towels. The rubbish bin for the towels should not be allowed to overflow, and the towels should be bagged up and disposed of regularly
• wearing any type of mask will minimise the risk of infection by touching your mouth or nose with infected hands
• wearing an N95 or higher (US) or P2/P3 (EU) respirator will also both minimise any virus particles you may inhale, as well as exhale if you are unwittingly infected
• wearing safety goggles will minimise the risk of infection through your eyes, both by protecting against hand to eye contact, and against air borne particles

In addition, the following precautions should be taken to keep the studio itself free of infection:

• wipe down all surfaces that people may come into contact with, such as worktops, door handles, washbasins, storage containers and equipment. When washing surfaces down, to be effective the cleaning solution should have at least 65% alcohol, or 0.5% hydrogen peroxide bleach, or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite bleach.
• particles may stay airborne for up to 3 hours. If possible there should be a continuous flow of air through the studio to clear the air, or otherwise a HEPA air purifier can be kept running

The virus will live on hard, dry surfaces like metal or plastic for up to 3 days; about 1 day on absorbent surfaces such as cardboard; or about 9 days on cold, damp surfaces like wet clay.