Important Notice to Parents regarding the CoVID-19

Dear Chess Parents,

We here at Chess ‘n Math Association share your concerns regarding the CoVID-19 (coronavirus) and would like to inform you about the precautions we are taking to ensure your safety, health and well-being. As the situation evolves, we continue to take proactive steps to ensure safety of our students while minimizing potential impacts to our chess programs.

Symptoms of CoVID-19 include:

• Fever
• Cough
• Difficulty Breathing/pneumonia-like symptoms

CoVID-19 is transmitted through close contact and aerosol. We strongly encourage anyone travelling via public transit to exercise extreme caution, such as frequent use of hand sanitizers and/or wearing a mask if necessary.

For the most up-to-date information on travel regarding CoVID-19, kindly visit the Toronto Public Health webpage.

We here at Chess ‘n Math Association always strive to ensure that all 8 chess lessons at schools are completed on a timely basis. Any and all lessons that are missed during the two-week school closure will be made up immediately following our return to schools. Should time not allow for these classes to be made up, you will be advised of the actions we'll be taking.

Chess ‘n Math evening programs, unless stated otherwise, remains operational as usual while we carefully monitor official updates from the Toronto Public Health about the CoVID-19. Please check our website for latest updates and announcements.

EXCEPTIONS:

• CMA Brampton - Authorities have directed a school closure for two weeks following the March Break, including Lester B. Pearson School, and thus there will be no lessons on the weeks of March 27^th and April 3^rd. Chess lessons at Lester B Pearson School will resume April 17^th.
• CMA Oakville - Authorities have directed a closure of the facility for two weeks following the March Break, and thus there will be no lessons on March 25th. We will keep you posted for further updates in the coming days.
• CMA Toronto Saturday - Due to CoVID-19 concerns, CMA Toronto Saturday lessons will be postponed to the nearest date feasible. Our facility, Strategy Games, will remain open to assist with any further inquiries.

We will keep you informed of any further cancellations that may arise from these issues.

A decision regarding the Canadian Chess Challenge will be made on April 1^st, 2020. In the meantime, Chess ‘n Math Association strongly discourages parents from purchasing airline tickets or making plans to travel abroad to areas affected by the CoVID-19.

The Team Championship 2020, which was originally scheduled to run for March 29^th, has been cancelled due to the recent shutdown of schools due to the CoVID-19. For those who registered for the Team Championship, your credit cards have not been charged.

In order to ensure safety for yourself and others, we ask anyone who feels unwell not to attend our chess program until they have fully recovered. We have implemented a number of measures to protect our students, instructors and other staff members, including but not limited to the following:

• Increasing the frequency of cleaning and sanitizing of our chess sets;
• Encouraging frequent hand-washing and maintaining a sanitary environment in our chess programs;
• Encouraging any students who aren’t well to stay home, and;
• Replacing handshakes with salutes to minimize contact

As you may all know, many of the symptoms are similar to seasonal influenza. Should you experience any of these symptoms AND have recently travelled internationally to an affected region, we advise that you stay home and avoid contact with others and follow up with your healthcare provider at your earliest convenience. Advise your healthcare professional in advance of attending the clinic of your symptoms and travel history.

To help protect yourself from possible infection, health officials recommend that everyone follows the precautions stipulated as follows:

• wash your hands frequently and well with soap and warm water;
• use alcohol-based hand sanitizer;
• avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth;
• cough or sneeze into your elbow, or cover your cough or sneeze;
• avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness;
• stay home if you are sick and avoid contact with others;
• if you are sick, contact a health care provider about your symptoms and inform them of your travel history.

Our evening program instructors will be circumspect in checking for any students experiencing any of the CoVID-19 symptoms.

Hopefully this advisory should provide you all with a peace of mind as we strive to continue providing our chess programs to the students in the midst of the crisis. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly.

Thank you, and we hope to see you at our chess programs again soon!

Sincerely,

William

Administrative Assistant, Chess ‘n Math Association