TL;DR: All scheduled CGW meetings, including our Open Hack Nights, are cancelled in order to encourage social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will resume Open Hack Nights on April 9th unless other notice is given.
The makerspace will remain open to members, who can access it like normal. We ask that members and guests continue to observe best practices while utilizing the space to prevent the spread of illness.
If you have any questions about this decision or the makerspace in general, please contact us on our Discord server or via email. For more information about COVID-19, we recommend the CDC or WHO.
Long Version:
US public health officials have recommended restrictions on social gatherings in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. While CGW meetings rarely reach the attendance numbers being legally curtailed, we on the board wish to help encourage social distancing and protect those in our community most vulnerable to the disease by cancelling our weekly Open Hack Nights and any other scheduled meetings until at least April 9th.
During this time, members will continue to have full access the space and tools like normal. We do ask that you adopt some practices around the shop to prevent the spread of illness:
- Please do not go to the makerspace if you are sick. If you feel sick, assume you are contagious. Please don’t spread disease.
- Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water when you enter and leave the workspace. Washing when entering is probably the only new part of this recommendation. Making is often dirty, and you should probably wash your hands afterward regardless of pandemics.
- If you are using the space with someone else, try to maintain distance of around 6 feet between each person. Physical distance helps prevent direct person-to-person spread of the virus.
- If you are able and willing, please help clean commonly-contacted surfaces around the space, especially any workbenches or tools you’ve used. Please contact us if you are unsure where the building’s cleaning supplies are kept.
We encourage all of our makers to continue gathering online. Our organization started out entirely online, so in a way it’s a return home. Please join our Discord server and post about your ideas or projects you’re working on.
If you are interested, you can learn more about social distancing and how it can affect outbreaks. For general information, updates, and official recommendations about COVID-19, visit the Centers for Disease Control or World Health Organization web sites.
CGW depends on membership dues and donations to keep the organization running. Times may get tough in the next few months, but we hope you’ll be able to keep supporting us. Our makerspace, like any, is more than a building filled with tools and junk. We’re a community. And as a community, we will support each other through the tough times and, hopefully, come out stronger on the other side.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said it poetically: “Let’s keep our distance today so we can embrace one another tomorrow.” We’ve never been much for hugs around CGW, but we’ll keep our distance today so we can make cool shit together tomorrow.
