Date Published: August 10, 2020
A common question I’ve been getting from dance families is how cohorts will apply to our dance classes this Fall. Alberta Health has developed a guidance document all about cohorts. This guide is really helpful, but I’ll break it down here to explain how it will apply to our classes this Fall.
Keep in mind that information regarding COVID-19 is changing every day and the information presented here is relevant to the date it was posted. As guidance can also differ between geographical areas, always consult the most recent local health authority and government guidelines in your area.
This Fall at Flexpointe Studios Inc.
- We will be maintaining social distancing within our classes *competitive dancers see exception below. We feel maintaining appropriate physical distancing is the right choic
e for our dance classes at this time. - We’ve structured our class sizes and our studio space to allow for 2 to 3 meters of physical distancing.
- We know that sometimes children can act spontaneously and despite our best efforts, they may come into contact with other dancers. Therefore, as an additional safety measure, we have scheduled our classes to allow for dancers to be kept within the same group of individuals across classes whenever possible.
*We are still making decisions regarding the use of cohorts within our competitive choreography classes (to allow physical distancing to be relaxed). Therefore, we strongly encourage our competitive dancers to NOT participate in any other extracurricular activity cohorts. If your child is considering being a part of an extracurricular activity-related cohort, we ask that you contact Miss Melissa to discuss what that might mean for your child’s choreography classes.
What’s a cohort?
Simply put, a cohort is a group of people who interact in a group setting where 2-meter physical distancing cannot always be maintained. Individuals within a cohort make the decision to only interact in close contact (i.e. to break the 2-meter distancing) with those individuals within their cohort.
A core cohort would include those you see most regularly on a day to day basis – people like your immediate family. Alberta Health has expanded core cohorts to include up to 15 additional people outside your home. So your core cohort could also include another designated family or relatives. Albertans are asked to “only belong to one core cohort and to keep it small and safe as possible”. (Guidance for Cohorts, June 23, 2020).
Other cohort types were introduced in Alberta in Stage 2 of relaunch and included groups at childcare facilities, sports teams (including dance) and performance groups. Your household should be making every attempt to keep the total number of other cohort groups you belong to a minimum. Remember the more people you interact with at close proximity, the greater your risk of exposure.
How does a cohort decrease my risk of exposure to COVID-19?
Physical distancing is an important part of minimizing COVID-19 exposure. Keeping a low number of “other cohort types” that your family is part of, helps to keep your risk of exposure low. Switching daily or even randomly who you are interacting with at less than 2 meters of distancing increases your risk of exposure. To keep cohorts safe, it’s important that everyone involved is following other safety measures such as self-isolation when symptomatic, practicing good respiratory etiquette (e.g. cover when you cough) and good hand washing.
References:
Government of Alberta (June 23, 2020) Guidance for Cohorts, https://www.alberta.ca/assets/documents/covid-19-relaunch-guidance-cohorts.pdf
Government of Alberta (July 20, 2020) Guidance for Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation – Stage 2, https://www.alberta.ca/assets/documents/covid-19-relaunch-sports-physical-activity-and-recreation.pdf