Rehearsing in a poorly ventilated room

[burno70]

After a hiatus since the lock down the rest of band and myself are all itching to get back into it. I dropped some gear off at our band room in the rehearsal studio this morning and it made me both happy and sad - like seeing an old friend. We're all quite safe when it comes to our everyday dealings, some of us work from home these days, and we are all careful about social distancing and wearing masks  which should help to reduce the risks.

The issue is that the room has zero ventilation. The windows were boarded up for security reasons and then treated with sound proofing. I've read that there is evidence that Covid is airborne so the lack of movement of air is not great. We were thinking of leaving the room door open and using fans but I'm not sure if our neighboring bands would appreciate that. Moving to another rehearsal studio isn't on the cards at moment.

Given the above, do any of my fellow Bass Chatting brethren have any ideas how we can approve the ventilation/minimize the risk further? I have a Skype meeting with the lads later this evening (along with virtual drinks) so any ideas would be most welcome.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by burno70

[jimmy23cricket]

This is the exact reason we stopped using our rehearsal studio! It just didn't seem sensible to go into a sealed room not knowing how many people had used it prior to you. 

[fretmeister]

Go elsewhere. It's the only practical answer.

[burno70]

 

2 hours ago, jimmy23cricket said:

This is the exact reason we stopped using our rehearsal studio! It just didn't seem sensible to go into a sealed room not knowing how many people had used it prior to you. 

It's only my band's room. No-one else uses it.

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Go elsewhere. It's the only practical answer.

We're hoping to avoid this scenario as we like our room.

[artisan]

We have the exact same problem but there is nowhere else in town.

[Dad3353]

All that can be done is to open the door(s...) and use a big ventilator in the doorway, blowing out. Not ideal, but it's all there is, I'd say. 

[Little Dragon]

Dehumidifier maybe to remove moisture in the air?

[burno70]

11 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

All that can be done is to open the door(s...) and use a big ventilator in the doorway, blowing out. Not ideal, but it's all there is, I'd say. 

I think you're right there. That's about the best we could do - ventilators are a bit spendy though.

8 hours ago, Little Dragon said:

Dehumidifier maybe to remove moisture in the air?

Yeah one of the lads suggested this - we've decided to get back into it from next weekend. Use Dehumidifiers and wear masks, open the doors between songs and use fans to circulate the air. It's about the best we can do in the circumstance. It's either this or wait out a cure. 🙄

[Thunderbird]

I'd be more worried about the drummer farting lol

[pbasspecial]

Look at the research and decide if the rewards out way the risk. Personally, I think we are overly fearful of this virus.  We did an outdoor front garden gig Last weekend. The drummer turned up wearing a face mask and latex gloves. He’s a fit, healthy 40 yo. Told him to stop being a meow meow and man the f*ck up. Not very PC but someone has to say it. 

[Dankology]

3 minutes ago, pbasspecial said:

Told him to stop being a meow meow and man the f*ck up. Not very PC but someone has to say it. 

What an idiotic thing to say.

Perhaps you should be the one weighing up the rewards and risks.

The statistics and science speak for themselves. And one thing you might also want to be mindful of is that the ongoing impact of this virus on people's health is very uncertain: there seems to be an increased clotting risk associated with it and I'm not sure yet how relevant this is to the increased number of sudden cardiac (and otherwise unexplained) deaths that I've been aware of.

But why not disregard all that, formulate your own risk assessment and tell anyone who disagrees to "man up"? I despair, I honestly do.

[pbasspecial]

We were outside standing at least 2 metres apart. Felt he was being over cautious. I observe the social distancing rules when necessary but I refuse to live in fear. If you wish to, feel free to do so. 

[Dankology]

"Live in fear"...🤪

Same attitude to seat belts, hygiene measures in restaurants etc etc? 

I thought not.

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

... turned up wearing a face mask and latex gloves. He’s a fit, healthy 40 yo...

The idea of this protection is not really for oneself, but to avoid passing the bug on to someone fragile, unwittingly. The bloke's doing it right; respect and kudos are due, not brickbats. 

[pbasspecial]

We were outside and standing well apart from each other.  The risk is absolutely minimal (and we are not fragile or vulnerable).  It was also banter. 

[pbasspecial]

1 hour ago, Dankology said:

"Live in fear"...🤪

Same attitude to seat belts, hygiene measures in restaurants etc etc? 

I thought not.

Symptoms

The most important symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of any of the following:

• a new continuous cough
• a high temperature
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness.  

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, pbasspecial said:

For most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness.  

This is part of the problem, I feel, when folks, in all innocence, pass it on to more vulnerable folks without even knowing they're infected and infectious. It's not themselves that will bear the consequences, but those who pick it up from them.

Still, anything's better than feeling like a fool wearing a mask, I suppose. 

[Trueno]

3 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

We were outside standing at least 2 metres apart. Felt he was being over cautious. I observe the social distancing rules when necessary but I refuse to live in fear. If you wish to, feel free to do so. 

If you have any elderly relatives don't go hugging them or anything.

[Dankology]

1 hour ago, pbasspecial said:

Symptoms

The most important symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of any of the following:

• a new continuous cough
• a high temperature
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness.  

I'm not sure what point you think you're making here.

The actual point is to prevent unnecessary spread in order to protect people for whom contracting the virus could be catastrophic. Not to prevent anyone at all from contracting it. That being the case your "man up" comments are at best a reflection of your ignorance or, at worst, a demonstration of your disregard for others' welfare.

But you might regard that sort of thing as being a bit too PC for someone such as yourself. Or was that all "just banter"? I really can't tell - and I'm not sure that you've decided yet either.

[skankdelvar]

Frankly, I'd be simply terrified of standing in a garden near a drummer huffing and puffing his way through a set. If a virus molecule thing were - as is highly likely - to alight upon on his crash cymbal the consequences could be deadly.

Out of the chorus, tom fill, crash, and whappo! the virus goes shooting off across the grass at 250 mph, over the dahlias and up the nose of some poor, vulnerable individual blithely unaware that airborne death is incoming.

The obvious solution is to place some perspex screens around and over each of the musicians then put the whole band in a fruit cage and drape the structure with multiple layers of horticultural fleece so that it's effectively one big mask. It's still taking a chance but it's a balanced option until we can find a way to safely encase band and audience alike in individual resin blocks.