USEF No Longer Notifying Participants of Active Covid Cases at Shows

[lockedoutalter]

I am livid. USEF recently made the rule change to no longer notify participants if there were active COVID cases at a show. The USEF must be notified but they will not release the data to those who may be impacted.

So, with this precedent, does that mean that if a horse is diagnosed with EHV-1 then no one should be notified and things should go on as normal?

This is dangerous and completely irresponsible. But what should I expect for an organization that has turned a blind eye to child molesters and rampant drugging?

https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2020/10/30/are-horse-shows-hiding-exposure-to-covid/?fbclid=IwAR0mGbLNXFlpwhWHW3o6bzMMQVuSw8GIQlq9liYD2pY5BLQrt7A4AsYMzPk

[Mulligan314]

I got notification of a case after the show I was just attended. The organization texted everyone who was signed up for their notifications and in the text is said ‘per the USEF Covid-19 Action plan’ … so, our notification came from the competition level, not USEF. I wouldn’t have expected USEF to be the ones contacting me…it seems far more logical for the communication to come from the competition. Hopefully the events are taking responsibility…

[Jealoushe]

whaa???

[mvp]

If you read the article, it sounds like the USEF is no longer requiring horse show managers to notify competitors at their show. So the notice would still be “local” but the requirement to do that removed from the top.

[mmeqcenter]

WOW.
I’d been slightly starting to wonder if I should reconsider my decision to not show at all until there’s a vaccine but…
Now I feel just fine about that decision again.

[joiedevie99]

Yeah, not good. I went to one horse show this year. Organizer was amazing - the secretary sat in a chair at the gate all day with a temp gun. You couldn’t enter the property without getting your temp taken (everyone in the car) and getting a wristband in the color of the day. Then you got your number/packet at the gate and drove to the parking lot. No stalls or other indoor access, no spectators - owner, rider, groom only.

[JenEM]

I don’t like this at all.

I attended a show this year with a positive, and within days got an email from the show about it. I found it reassuring, knowing that I’d been there in a completely different ring on a different day, so unlikely to have had any exposure. Not knowing that does not reassure me, and makes me less likely to either show or volunteer at a show.

My youngster is unlikely to be ready for rated hunter showing next year, so this additional change makes it even less likely to try for any, and stick with some dressage shows, where were can at least isolate ourselves more easily.

[skydy]

Since show management and/or USEF are dumping all contact tracing of COVID cases at their shows on the already overwhelmed State and Local health authorities :no: they’d better be giving a list, including contact information, of all of their show entries to the health authorities as well.

This is really outrageous and a slap in the face to those people that are supporting USEF et al by showing, as well as to the State and Local health authorities. If you are going to hold horse shows that draw people from many States you damn well better do your part to deal with the COVID positive cases at your show.

Personally I disagree with holding shows during a pandemic, but honestly this is beyond the pale. I hope The Chronicle follows up and gets an explanation.

[Peggy]

There is a wide disparity amongst shows in my area just regarding spectators, from no one except essential barn personnel plus one parent of a minor child to come one come all. Hopefully the more careful shows will also notify exhibitors, or is that a pipe dream? I wouldn’t expect the “come one come all” management team to.

[Tackpud]

It’s always been up to the individual show to notify exhibitors - emails come from the show management. Gotten a couple. The management is the entity with the information of how to contact everyone so it makes sense for them to do it. USEF updates the COVID plan weekly and it’s available to everyone on the website. Not surprised they removed this portion of the plan since it really wasn’t up to them to do the work anyway.

[skydy]

@Tackpud

It’s always been up to the individual show to notify exhibitors - emails come from the show management. Gotten a couple. The management is the entity with the information of how to contact everyone so it makes sense for them to do it. USEF updates the COVID plan weekly and it’s available to everyone on the website. Not surprised they removed this portion of the plan since it really wasn’t up to them to do the work anyway.

Did you notice the part of the communication that said that competition organizers must notify USEF and the local health authorities? It says nothing about notifying the people who have been exposed. They can leave that to the local authorities.:no:

[skydy]

^^^The competition organizers or “individual shows” have been let off the hook by USEF as far as any responsibility to report positive cases to the people that were exposed at the show grounds, as well as USEF letting themselves off the hook. Show management needs to report to the Local Health Department

Way to be a weasel USEF .

[Sticky_Situation]

Just another sign of what happens when a pandemic is made political and people are encouraged to believe that any sort of measures to mitigate and track the spread of a highly contagious disease are “tyranny” and “forcing people to live in fear.”

[Renn_aissance]

I think the timing is convenient- right before KY, which is held indoors.

[eightpondfarm]

All this notice does is it proves to me, (yet again:mad:), that i -and i alone- am responsible for my own health and safety. I cannot rely on anyone else, or any organization or bureaucracy to consider my personal health of any relevance. I’m not interested in getting sick and maybe ending up on a ventilator and maybe dying because my health is inconsequential to an organization.

[MHM]

@eightpondfarm

All this notice does is it proves to me, (yet again:mad:), that i -and i alone- am responsible for my own health and safety.

How is that any different from every day of your life until now? Just curious.

[eightpondfarm]

welllllllll MHM, i used to think that my employer and my local township were obligated to consider my health and wellbeing, at least on the job. And in most cases, because of governmental regulations and bureaucratic oversight. Nowadays i fear there is none. I feel there is no oversight, that there are no guardrails. It’s like the wild wild west out there.

Most alarming evidence being the throngs of folks who refuse to mask-up.

[mvp]

@MHM

How is that any different from every day of your life until now? Just curious.

It is different from your first day of kindergarten when you could walk into school being more or less reassured that you weren’t going to catch polio or cholera while you were there.

It’s different from the day you stay on your side of the double yellow line, and you drive toward another car doing the same at speeds that could kill you both because you assume the other person is going to by the same rules you are.

It’s different from the day you called 911 and thought that maybe someone else besides you could “take responsibility” for putting out the house fire that started while you were in the house.

I could go on. The point is that there are many, many instances where we get some grace and some help-- stuff from Other People.

I’m 100% responsible for my side of the street. But the point with this virus is that I have no control over what happens on someone else’s side of the street, and I can’t avoid them/that!

This many months into a pandemic, is anyone out there still debating the necessity of a little bit of collective thinking?

[mvp]

@eightpondfarm

welllllllll MHM, i used to think that my employer and my local township were obligated to consider my health and wellbeing, at least on the job. And in most cases, because of governmental regulations and bureaucratic oversight. Nowadays i fear there is none. I feel there is no oversight, that there are no guardrails. It’s like the wild wild west out there.

Most alarming evidence being the throngs of folks who refuse to mask-up.

But they wouldn’t if they didn’t have to! American history is littered with examples of corporations and governments doing the bare minimum until forced to address the problem. Throw a rock at any chapter of labor history and you’ll see what I mean.

[M_O_Connor]

mvp wins COTH today with those last two posts. We have a long road a head with half of us going one way (science) and half of us going the other (but our freeeeeedoms).

How many of us would take our horses to a show with no Coggins and just ‘assume’ it’s safe because they have no symptoms? How long would that go on before we had an EIA crisis? Remember the days of EIA? No? Me neither.