On Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 2:01:04 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Tom,

When the snowbirds started arriving in November, and the contestants were rolling in after January 1st, Seminole-Lake Gliderport could have never foreseen the challenges we would face. The news in late January and early February regarding the new virus in China seemed not so bad. The closer we got to the contest, the worse it became. In Florida, we had very few cases and they were mainly in the southern section of the state. Here is a timeline I pulled from the New York Times written by Derrick Taylor:
• Dec 31, 2019 – The government in Wuhan, China confirmed that they were treating dozens of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause
• January 11, 2020 – First reported death from an illness caused by the virus. This man was 61 years old with a history of abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease
• January 20 – First confirmed case outside Chine appeared in Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. The next day a cause was discovered in Washington State.
• January 23 – China cut off Wuhan from travel to other parts of China. Travel to other countries was not halted (last sentence came from Fox News)
• January 30 – W.H.O. declared a global health emergency
• January 31 – Trump restricted travel from China
• February 2 – First Coronavirus death outside China was in the Philippines
• February 5 – Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan. By Feb. 13th, 218 passengers were infected with Coronavirus.
• February 14 – First Coronavirus death in Europe occurred in France
• February 23 – Italy sees a major surge in Coronavirus cases
• February 29 – US records its first Coronavirus death in Seattle. Trump issues do not travel order for areas in Italy, Iran and South Korea
• March 3 – CDC lifted all testing restrictions on testing for Coronavirus
• March 13 – Trump declares a national emergency (Seniors Practice Day)
• March 15 – CDC advises no gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks. Florida Governor on this day recommended a limit of gatherings to 10 people.
In the news, we had several of the doctors tell us things were not that bad. They said the Coronavirus was similar to the flu. This was based on data from China and no one really knew how bad this virus was going to get. Nancy Pelosi on February 24 made a big deal about coming to Chinatown in San Francisco. On February 29th, Dr Fauci was telling people that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. At the end of this statement he also said things could change and we would have to seriously address the virus. This was the first time we felt we needed to address this issue. On March 8th, Governor Cuomo says New Yorkers should not panic over the virus. At this point NY only had 89 cases. This was 5 days before the beginning of the contest. So, New York, the largest and most severe of the states that were hit in the US, was advising their residents that there was not a reason to quarantine or shut down transportation, shops, or restaurants.
The first week of March we still did not have a single case within 100 miles of the gliderport. Seminole-Lake is located in a rural area, but within 14 miles of Disney World and all the visitors that the attraction brought to Central Florida.
At the Seniors, we had already made the decision the beginning of March to make adjustments on how we served the dinners in the hangar. Tables and chairs were disinfected before and after dinners. Servers had to wear gloves, utensils were handed to you with a plate and napkin by a volunteer in gloves. Even ice tea was handed to you so you wouldn’t come in contact with another glass. However, we still sat 8 to a table. Then on March 12th (day before the practice day), a meeting was held with both Contest Managers, the Contest Director, Scorer and the Seminole-Lake Manager. We decided to cancel all pilots’ meetings, mandatory safety meeting, and require social distancing if we needed a front of the grid meeting. We established electronic means to disseminate all information normally covered by these meetings. Paper task sheets were still passed out by the Scorer on the grid, but he was wearing gloves. We also restricted access to the office to keep our staff separated from the contestants. Several contestants that had conditions that put them at greater risk from the virus withdrew from the Seniors. On March 15th when the federal and Florida state governments recommended limits on the numbers of people that should gather together, the contest staff made the decision to continue. Competitors were asked on that evening if they still wanted to do dinners together in the hangar, they said yes. We did offer them a “to go” option by boxing up the dinner so they could eat in their RV. The Seniors ended on March 20. The awards banquet normally held at a golf resort was changed to a hangar event to limit contact with people outside our group. Two weeks later everyone contacted us to see if anyone was sick. Of all of our contestants, crews, staff and volunteers, we only had one pilot who took ill. He traveled to a couple of locations after the contest, including southeast Florida. He fell ill on the return trip to his home out west. At the two week point he was ill but tested negative for the virus. This pilot started to feel better and then got worse. He then tested positive. However, his wife did not get the virus. Today, everyone is fine.
So, you can always Monday morning quarterback any decision. However, given what we knew at the time, decisions were made to safeguard everyone anyway. We did not treat this evolving threat lightly even though New Yorkers were told they didn’t have to change their habits just 5 days before the contest. If the Seniors were scheduled one week later, I’m sure we would have cancelled. Hope this answers your questions satisfactorily.
Sincerely,
Rich Owen
Co-Contest Manager
Senior Soaring Championship

Well documented response Rich, very accurate description of the timeline. What else could anyone do, NOTHING! Bob