District Clay Re-Opening COVID-19 Guidelines and Procedures
(Updated 6/1/2021.)
-To see our COVID-19 news timeline, go here.
Our objective is to create a safe and secure place for people to play with clay. While the District government has removed all capacity and other restrictions (May 21), District Clay is only changing its masking guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals. All social distancing, wheel and work station separations and disinfecting protocols remain in effect.
As of June 1st, if you are fully vaccinated (final shot plus two weeks), you may remove your mask while at District Clay. If you are not fully vaccinated, you must continue to wear a mask while inside District Clay. Proof of vaccination is not required.
District Clay has been asking students to anonymously indicate their vaccination status since May 19th. With over 300 responses, our results are: 93.2% fully vaccinated, 6.5% partially vaccinated, .3% (one person) not yet vaccinated.
Since District Clay re-opened in July, we have had over 12,500 single entry visits and only three reported cases of COVID infection. In all three of those reports, the infection incurred outside of District Clay and there was no spread inside of District Clay
District Clay provides free blue surgical masks and KN95 masks at cost ($2).
For more information, please see our COVID-10 news timeline.
Please send any questions or comments about these procedures to Cass Johnson ([email protected])
Physical Area Changes:
Rooms Now Have Occupancy Restrictions:
Changes to Class Times and Class Sizes:
New Entry and Use Requirements for Students, DCC Artists and Teachers:
Anyone entering District Clay must:
Do Not Enter Guidelines:
Fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, diarrhea or nausea, temperature over 100.4 degrees
Mandatory Disinfecting and Cleaning Procedures:
The last 30 minutes of class are reserved for clean-up and disinfecting.
New Drop in Rules:
Class Suspensions Because of Illness or Self-Quarantine or DCC Closure:
Here are the steps District Clay will take if a DCC student notifies us they have tested positive for COVID-19. This also applies if someone is advised by a medical authority to self-quarantine.
1. We will immediately interview the person to find out: 1) when they were at District, 2) if they knew how they became infected, 3) if they were following DC guidelines, 4) if they were symptomatic or asymptomatic at the time, 5) who they interacted with and if they were closer than six feet when the interaction. We will also ask if we can share their name with the students in their class. We will write up a report on the incident.
2. We will immediately send a notice to all students who were present when the student was at District Clay. We will also notify DCC teachers and to anyone else they interacted with alerting them to the incident and passing on the incident report. If CDC guidelines indicate, we will recommend self-quarantine. We will send additional information about COVID 19 resources, testing and include a link to the CDC Self Checker.
3. We will post an Incident Report on the District Clay bulletin board.
(Updated 6/1/2021.)
-To see our COVID-19 news timeline, go here.
Our objective is to create a safe and secure place for people to play with clay. While the District government has removed all capacity and other restrictions (May 21), District Clay is only changing its masking guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals. All social distancing, wheel and work station separations and disinfecting protocols remain in effect.
As of June 1st, if you are fully vaccinated (final shot plus two weeks), you may remove your mask while at District Clay. If you are not fully vaccinated, you must continue to wear a mask while inside District Clay. Proof of vaccination is not required.
District Clay has been asking students to anonymously indicate their vaccination status since May 19th. With over 300 responses, our results are: 93.2% fully vaccinated, 6.5% partially vaccinated, .3% (one person) not yet vaccinated.
Since District Clay re-opened in July, we have had over 12,500 single entry visits and only three reported cases of COVID infection. In all three of those reports, the infection incurred outside of District Clay and there was no spread inside of District Clay
District Clay provides free blue surgical masks and KN95 masks at cost ($2).
For more information, please see our COVID-10 news timeline.
Please send any questions or comments about these procedures to Cass Johnson ([email protected])
Physical Area Changes:
- Wheels and handbuilding stations are now six feet apart with 6' x 6' partitions.
- Each wheel station now has individual wedging and waxing stations.
- Six-foot distancing markers are placed at key areas on the floor through the Center, including at sinks, ware pick-up and drop off areas and entry areas.
- Our Large Wheel Room features M-25 HEPA Air King Filtration units which filter the room air to 99.97% (higher filtration than an N-95 mask) four times an hour, 96x a day. Also, we have placed fans to circulate air from our small wheel room into this room.
- We move fresh air through the studio through the use of a large 3 foot wide exhaust fan which is placed in our loading dock door. With doors and windows in the front of the studio open, this fan enables us to bring recyle fresh air into our space at least 8x an hour (the fan exhausts 13,300 cubic feet of air per minute out of the studio.)
- Contactless sanitizer and soap dispensers are provided at key points throughout the Center.
- District Clay supplies all necessary tools for students but students may bring their own tools or purchase a quality eight piece Kemper tool wheel kit ($20) or a 22 piece ARITZA handbuilding kit ($22).
- For interested students, we are selling FDA certified reusable Powecom KN95 masks (>95% filtration; equivalent level to N95 (which are reserved for medical personnel) at cost ($3) and supplying a plastic bag and instructions.
Rooms Now Have Occupancy Restrictions:
- Big Wheel Room – 11 wheels and 1 teacher wheel
- New Small Wheel Room (formerly Gallery/Lounge area) – 8 wheels and 1 teacher wheel
- New Mini-Wheel Room - 4 wheels
- New Handbuilding Room (formerly the Small Wheel Room) – 8 handbuilding stations and one teacher station
- Cone 10 glaze room (formerly the handbuilding room) – max occupancy of two people.
Changes to Class Times and Class Sizes:
- We have reduced our class sizes and spread out our wheels - our max class size is now 12 and wheels are spread out.
- All wheels and handbuilding stations are at least six feet about with partitions.
- Class times have changed and are now staggered to give students time to enter and exit while maintaining social distancing. Students now enter through the side door and exit through the glaze room door. The front door is closed.
New Entry and Use Requirements for Students, DCC Artists and Teachers:
Anyone entering District Clay must:
- If you are not fully vaccinated (final shot plus two weeks) you must wear a mask while inside District Clay.
- Review the Do Not Enter Guidelines (below) posted on the door.
- Sanitize & wash hands.
- Get a temperature check using a no contact forehead thermometer. Anyone with temperatures over 100.4 degrees should not enter.
- Sign in so that we can create a contact list and also indicate where the Center you are working. We ask that any DCC student who becomes infected or believes they have been infected to contact us immediately.
- Disposable (paper) masks and gloves will be provided to DCC students for free upon request. For interested students, we are selling FDA certified reusable Powecom KN95 masks (>95% filtration; equivalent level to N95 (which are reserved for medical personnel) at cost ($3) and supplying a plastic bag and instructions. We suggest students keep the KN95 masks on their shelf in the plastic bag when not at the Center.
Do Not Enter Guidelines:
Fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, diarrhea or nausea, temperature over 100.4 degrees
Mandatory Disinfecting and Cleaning Procedures:
The last 30 minutes of class are reserved for clean-up and disinfecting.
- Students may be asked to clean up and disinfect in shifts.
- Students must follow 6-foot distancing markers on the floor when accessing the sinks.
- Partitions have been constructed between the sinks.
- Student will follow posted instructions and clean up and disinfecting at their wheel/handbuilding stations.
- After disinfecting, surfaces and tools should be left wet for at least 60 seconds.
- Common area glaze and wedging tables must be cleaned and disinfected after each use.
- District Clay staff will disinfect common areas of the studio daily.
- District Clay uses EPA approved disinfectants.
New Drop in Rules:
- Drop ins are free but because of reduced number of classes, please check our current class schedule. This includes Sunday Open Studio on Sunday's from 12:40 to 3:10 pm and 5:30-8:00 pm and Tuesday mornings from 10-12:30 pm.
- Drop ins may be suspended during certain times if too many people drop in; District Clay is actively monitoring room occupancy rates.
Class Suspensions Because of Illness or Self-Quarantine or DCC Closure:
- Students may suspend classes for two weeks at a time if they need to self-quarantine. They may do this multiple times if necesary.
- Students who need to absent for longer than two weeks because of COVID-19 (either self quarantine or illness) will receive a credit for any unused classes.
- If the virus resurges in the District and District Clay is ordered to close, your classes will be suspended and you can restart when we re-open or receive a credit for any remaining classes.
Here are the steps District Clay will take if a DCC student notifies us they have tested positive for COVID-19. This also applies if someone is advised by a medical authority to self-quarantine.
1. We will immediately interview the person to find out: 1) when they were at District, 2) if they knew how they became infected, 3) if they were following DC guidelines, 4) if they were symptomatic or asymptomatic at the time, 5) who they interacted with and if they were closer than six feet when the interaction. We will also ask if we can share their name with the students in their class. We will write up a report on the incident.
2. We will immediately send a notice to all students who were present when the student was at District Clay. We will also notify DCC teachers and to anyone else they interacted with alerting them to the incident and passing on the incident report. If CDC guidelines indicate, we will recommend self-quarantine. We will send additional information about COVID 19 resources, testing and include a link to the CDC Self Checker.
3. We will post an Incident Report on the District Clay bulletin board.
| dcc_covid-19_procedures_and_guidelines_11-10.pdf |
