COVID-19 UPDATE
EXPIRATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY DECLARATION
UNITED STATES, MAY 11, 2023

AS OF 5/11/23 THE CDC NO LONGER REPORTS “COMMUNITY SPREAD”
BUT DOES REPORT HOSPITAL ADMISSION LEVELS; AND OC IS LOW.

CURRENT CDC RECOMMENDATIONS:

> 1: Stay Healthy!
Avoid crowds and indoor events, practice physical distancing.
If you MAY have been exposed, or feel you might be sick,
stay home & self quarantine. Do not attend BCI events if you
have been around others who may have shared the virus or if you feel unwell.
If (when) you get it, wait until you are fully recovered and/or test negative
before you attend BCI events.

> 2: Maintain Sanitation; carry some hand sanitizer with you
- wash your hands often - don’t touch table tops or your face.
Cover your cough or sneeze & don’t blow ‘snot rockets’!

> 3: Carry Face Covering to use to control your exhaled
droplets when you are close to others.
It’s not a protective mask (PPE, N95 etc) to keep any virus out -
it’s a face cover to trap your breathing out of potentially infectious droplets.
Face coverings work because asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers,
even if vaccinated, can spread COVID to others and to surfaces
and it protects you by reducing your touching your own face.
If unvaccinated, and as increasingly contagious variants are spreading,
the recommendation remains to wear a protective mask (PPE)
especially indoors to protect you from getting covid disease.
Some coffee shops and restaurants may still appreciate
you wearing a face covering indoors, especially in lines.

Metrolink: Face covers are no longer required when boarding and on trains for our remote rides.

Everyone’s health, safety and fun continue to be the primary concerns of BCI.
Community Responsibility: If you are vaccinated &/or feel lucky, you may choose to mask,
but using face covers for OTHERS, helps reduce potential spread, especially to our
unvaccinated and/or vulnerable friends, neighbors, elders and children.
Personal Responsibility: If you are concerned or more vulnerable, or unvaccinated,
take extra steps to stay healthy. We want everyone to feel safe with BCI.
If you are not ready to risk exposure, continue enjoying solo rides,
or riding with your household or ‘bubble pod’ and enjoy using the posted BCI route slips.
Members can use the Ride Banks to find past routes
(Current Members’ password that is sent in News Alerts is required).

As of June 15 2021 the Tier System and many emergency restrictions were lifted - and BCI went ‘back’ to our “New Normal” system of having group start, gathering for meals and meetings with a heightened sense of hygiene, face covering and physical distancing.

Club rides are happening, but with this on-line
sign-in and print your own copy of the route slip…

We are NOT risking anyone’s health to set up and monitor the ride starts, or gathering for group starts.
You can see rides offered as usual here on the web site, but there will not be any
SIGN IN SHEETS - GUEST WAIVERS or ROUTE SLIPS available at ride starts.
If you do not have access to sign in on line, call a friend to sign you up as a guest
or call Bill and he will manually add you on-line.


A: You will REGISTER online to sign-in as a member or Guest/Expired Member. Your BCI Supplemental Medical & Accident insurance for MEMBERS will NOT be in effect if you are not signed-in for the BCI Ride on the scheduled date. You must use your email & personal ‘TidyHQ’ password to login, and you can sign up for any or all scheduled upcoming ‘events’ on one visit to BCI.TidyHQ - if you don’t show up to ride, that’s fine. We would rather have you signed in & not show up than ride without being signed in. The registration system generates a “ticket”, but you do not need to print one. Here are step-by-step directions.
Guests / expired past members MUST register to participate on our rides. If not already in the system as an expired member, you will be asked to create an account. Each person must use a unique email address.

B: Print up your own route slips (links to printable pdf are available at each ride description)
If you do not have a printer, call a friend to bring an extra copy for you.
Note -

RideWithGPS does provide a rough cue sheet for each route,
but the BCI version is most accurate and will fit on 1/2 page slip to clip to your handlebar…

C: Do not gather - no group start - trickle out for your morning ride between 8 & 10. Wear a BCI Jersey if you have one so others will recognize you along the route - ride at your own pace with your household members, “bubble pod” or solo & keep your distance & ‘mask-up’ - at least when you catch up with other riders. Do not assemble & clump up, forcing others to squeeze around you with less than 6 feet distancing. Maintain face covering and physical distance when near others.
While we are not ‘gathering’ at the coffee stop… as folks come and go it’s nice to socialize a bit with physical distancing and face covers between sips of coffee. Disperse & keep moving along!
Plan ahead to stop at a local park or public restroom for water & relief along the route in case the coffee stop has no restroom access... We discourage any of our usual gathering for lunch after the rides with more than 3 households.

Vaccinated? Good for you! …But know many who are not yet as protected appreciate your using face covering to help stop the spread - even though you are at a decreased chance of having an infection to spread, please continue to stay distanced and cover up for others.

As always, If there is an incident, please report it with names and details to Crash@BikeIrvine.org.

Those who fail to comply, or refuse to help protect the rest of the club,
should expect to be asked to not ride with BCI.

OC is now in the Yellow Tier of “Minimal” risk and community spread as of May 19 but all that gives us is more indoor dining and non-essential businesses, theaters, etc capacity - so we continue as we have, avoiding and certainly not hosting gatherings and maintaining face covering, physical distance and hygiene. Many of us have gotten vaccinated but the pandemic is not over yet and infection increases from foreign and interstate travel - and dropping safeguards - may lead to another bump on spread and death. If you're fully vaccinated, (2 weeks after receiving second or single dose) the newest CDC guidance says you can unmask OUTDOORS and spend time indoors with unvaccinated people, as long as they're from a single household and not at high risk of severe COVID-19. If you're unvaccinated and not at high risk of severe COVID-19, same thing: you can gather with fully vaccinated people, as long as you're not including other unvaccinated people, not of your household. Regardless of your vaccination status, you should still avoid medium or large-sized groups and any unnecessary travel, and use a face cover in case you are infectious to others.
The lowest Yellow Tier, “Minimal” community spread, still prohibits any public gathering, or even private gatherings of people from more than 3 households, indoors or out. June 15th the State plans to be able to end the tier system.

Gatherings are defined as social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place. When people from different households mix, this increases the risk of transmission.

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to be a global concern.
March 17th, 2020 the County declared an Emergency Regulation to protect life and property.
All gatherings and non-essential activity were prohibited.
March 19th, 2020 the Governor declared a statewide order to stay home - until further notice.
BCI cancelled all rides and gatherings and our General Meetings and Board Meetings are being held on Zoom; We will not gather for ride starts, meetings, coffee stops, or meals until we get past Tier 4.
We have extended membership and renewals to 15 months, and have posted ride banks of all recent BCI routes to help members ride our routes between club rides.
April 8th ( Rev May 27th ) the City of Irvine issued an Executive Order including the mandatory wearing of face coverings (not masks) in public.
June 18th the State of California’s Guidance has made wearing face covering (not PPE masks) mandatory when in public where physical distancing of 6 feet cannot be maintained… Vented masks do not filter your exhaled breath and are not effective face coverings under this plan to reduce the spread of COVID-19. While cycling, that sphere of breath droplets trails in motion far more than 6 feet, so wearing face covering while riding helps to contain our expirations and reduces the chance of spreading potentially infectious droplets.
July 13th the State issued a 3 week minimum pause on the reopened dining and bars, and other businesses that have a high risk due to the greatly increased rate of infection. As OC struggles to reopen, we saw increased cases and were concerned that the phased re-opening would be stalled or reversed if community infection spiked…and it did and was. We were only briefly in Phase 2, then pushed back to Phase 1 of 4 of the Resilience Roadmap.
BCI resumed Rides in July with physical distancing, face covering and trickle starts to avoid gathering.
August 28th the State implemented the Blue Print for a Safer Economy system with OC in Purple “Widespread Risk” tier.
September 8th - Orange County adjusted their health orders as we moved from the Purple “Widespread Risk” to the Red “Substantial Risk” Tier 2.
September 24th - We await the results of our Labor Day weekend behavior. Trends looked good for maintaining lower levels and getting below the Red “Substantial Risk” level to the Orange “Moderate Risk” Tier but…
November 16th - Community Spread across OC has increased and OC has moved back into the Purple “Widespread Risk” tier.
December 5th - Southern California began a surge in hospitalization after Thanksgiving travel and gatherings and the region’s ICU available capacity fell below 15%.
December 6th - the State’s Regional Stay At Home Order went into effect for at least 3 weeks or until regional ICU capacity returns to over 15%. It says “All individuals living in the Region shall stay home or at their place of residence except as necessary to conduct activities associated with the operation, maintenance, or usage of critical infrastructure, as required by law, or as specifically permitted in this order.” It goes on to clarify: “Nothing in this Order prevents any number of persons from the same household from leaving their residence… as long as they do not engage in any interaction with (or otherwise gather with) any number of persons from any other household,” so no one should be heading to Irvine to recreate (not critical) as a group (gathering other households).
State officials have further clarified that “Members of the same household are encouraged to maintain physical and mental health by safely going to a park, hike, walk or bike ride when safe to do so and socially distanced.” so we hope you will continue to ride, but from home and maintaining physical distance and hygiene to stop the spread.
December 17th - The BCI Board voted to clear the calendar of future club rides and gatherings until the Stay At Home order is lifted, but the Ride Banks are still posted.
January 25th 2021 - State Stay-At-Home Order was lifted - OC is still in the Purple Tier of widespread community risk. No indoor dining. No indoor family gathering. BCI posted rides for Weekends and Tuesdays.
March 14th - OC Moves to Red Tier of substantial risk and community spread. Indoor dining allowed to resume with modifications. Indoor family gatherings allowed with limits.
March 30th - OC Moves to Orange Tier of moderate risk and community spread. Non Essential businesses allowed to resume with limited capacities & modifications.
April 27th - CDC releases relaxed OUTDOOR masking guidelines for fully vaccinated people; the City of Irvine, Orange County and California have NOT yet relaxed restrictions for vaccinated people.
May 19th - OC Moves to Yellow Tier of minimal community spread.

This is the CDC’s position. California has NOT dropped the rules on mask wearing for vaccinated folks.
Maybe as soon an June 15th, we can resume group starts, relax about gathering at coffee stops and hold outdoor club meetings & meals… if California loosens current restrictions on gathering of people from more than 3 households.
If you are NOT yet fully vaccinated, PLEASE continue to keep 6 feet away from others & wear a face covering.

We will look forward to what the guidelines will be on June 15th & hope to be ‘all clear’ for resuming public gathering…
Ride Starts, In-Person Meetings, Group meals and picnics…

Here are the relevant passages of the State-wide order regarding face covering.

State of California—Health and Human Services Agency
California Department of Public Health
June 18, 2020
GUIDANCE FOR THE USE OF FACE COVERINGS

…This document updates existing CDPH guidance for the use of cloth face coverings by the general public when outside the home. It mandates that face coverings be worn state-wide in the circumstances and with the exceptions outlined below. It does not substitute for existing guidance about social distancing and handwashing. 

Guidance
People in California must wear face coverings when they are in the high-risk situations listed below:

• Inside of, or in line to enter, any indoor public space; {Like at coffee stops, restaurants or bathrooms}
• While outdoors in public spaces when maintaining a physical distance of 6 feet from persons who are not members of the same household or residence is not feasible. {Like when we use the bathroom, line up for coffee or cluster up at red lights on the road}

The following individuals are exempt from wearing a face covering:
• Persons who are seated at a restaurant or other establishment that offers food or beverage service, while they are eating or drinking, provided that they are able to maintain a distance of at least six feet away from persons who are not members of the same household or residence.  {Like at coffee stops & restaurants}

• Persons who are engaged in outdoor work or recreation such as … bicycling,… when alone or with household members, and when they are able to maintain a distance of at least six feet from others.

We attest that cycling in the fresh air is healthy, but personal responsibility for our collective health is reasonable.
We continue to encourage you to get out and ride, just not as a group, and pull up a face cover when near others. Riding helps our mood and if you become symptomatic, you will know sooner if your not able to catch your breath or smell the flowers. See most recent recommendations and updates at the CDC and OCHD.

Unlike some states, California lets local County officials define how many people constitutes a “Mass Gathering” and OC has declined to give any number – so gathering of anyone from different households is prohibited until someday when we get the clear of the minimal risk Tier 4. Irvine parks are posted to not gather in groups of 10 or more. In general, Gathering is prohibited in California except for constitutionally protected cultural ceremonies and protests. State guidelines for Youth Sports is the closest guidance we have found related to what we want to do…

Please see our President’s Message June 15th.

PLEASE
1: Stay Healthy! If you have been exposed, or feel you might be sick, stay home & self quarantine.

2: Maintain Sanitation; carry some hand sanitizer with you
- wash your hands often - don’t touch table tops or your face.

3: Maintain Physical Distancing - please stay farther apart - 6 feet is the minimum guideline,
many feel more is prudent when cycling as our breath ‘sphere’ becomes an elongated ‘comet’.
Spread out if waiting to start and ride off before a group forms.
Don’t cluster at pinch points like bathroom doors.
Don’t gather & wait for a start - go ahead & trickle out as you wish.
Don’t wait for friends in the street!
Physical distancing in the travel lane of Deerwood or Beech Tree is dangerous!

4: Wear Face Covering to control your exhaled droplets any time you are close to others.
Remember when moving your sphere of exhaled droplets becomes a comet trailing back
- so wearing a face covering protects those on your wheel.
It’s not a mask (PPE) to keep any virus out - it’s a face cover
to trap your heavy breathing out of potentially infectious droplets.
A neckerchief to pull up ‘cowboy style’ or neck-gaiter Buff® works when you are near anyone,
or a simple mask cut from a cotton T shirt will do, but will NOT protect you from others.
Face covering works because asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers,
even if vaccinated, can spread COVID to others and to surfaces.
When you finish your coffee - cover up & stop spreading your droplets on the table & area around you.
A ‘PPE’ mask & eye covering will help protect you, but are hard to ride with.
At this time face coverings are still mandatory in Irvine, as well as all of California
when unable to maintain 6’ minimum distance, even outdoors, in any public space.

Gathering is prohibited, so we will not gather for announcements or a group start
and we discourage gathering at the coffee stop that is typical on every route slip.
Plan ahead with snacks & plan to stop at a local park or public restroom for water
& relief along the route if coffee house access is restricted…

Community Responsibility: If you are vaccinated &/or feel lucky, that’s fine, but for OTHERS please help reduce spread.
Face covers when closer than 6 feet or when breathing on a common surface like a table or counter at a coffee stop,
stay away if you feel ill or have been around someone who is sick, wash your hands and don’t gather.

Personal Responsibility: If you are concerned or more vulnerable, take extra steps to stay healthy.
We want everyone to feel safe with BCI - but if you are not ready to risk exposure,
continue enjoying solo rides, or riding with your household or ‘bubble pod’
and enjoy using the posted BCI route slips.
You can use the Ride Banks to find past routes.
Everyone’s health, safety and fun are the primary concerns of BCI.

Those who fail to comply or refuse to help protect the rest of the club,
can expect to be asked to not ride with BCI.