If you’ve ever attended one of our events, you know we are welcoming; handshakes, hugs and high-fives are common. But our community includes members who are among the most vulnerable to or concerned about COVID-19, whether due to age, compromised immune systems, their status as caregivers, or other issues.
For these reasons, and following the lead of numerous universities and articles like this one on social distancing, we have decided to cancel our March 15 event. We will make a decision on our April 19 event by April 12.
Thank you for understanding and doing all you can to help us protect the community we love.
More information
We will continue to monitor WHO, CDC and local authorities for recommendations. Even if you are not at risk yourself, diligently adhering to these preventative measures could save lives—or at least make lives less anxious or complicated by possibly avoiding the need for quarantine.
Until further notice, we will have the following requirements in place at our events:
- Everyone will be asked to wash hands or use provided hand sanitizer on arrival. (If you can donate hand sanitizer, soap, or paper towels, please let us know!)
- We will have limited refreshments due to food handling issues. We’ll let you know if packaged beverages and snacks will be available for purchase, or if you can bring your own.
- We ask that you not shake hands, hug, or kiss in greeting—so start working on your most expressive smiles and nods now!
Please refrain from attending our events if:
- You have any flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, or difficulty breathing.
- You have returned from travel in the last 3 weeks to an area with sustained local transmission (not just a travel ban/warning). Read the travel advisories from the CDC
- You have had close physical contact with a person currently under investigation for COVID-19, or who is a confirmed case of COVID-19.
Prevention of respiratory diseases, from the CDC
Event cancellation policy
While we have made an independent decision to cancel our March event, in future months we will also be looking to our local schools for precedent: If Murfreesboro City Schools, Rutherford County Schools, or MTSU are scheduled to be closed immediately before or after our scheduled event, we will follow suit and cancel our event.
If we make a decision to cancel an event, we will post on our website and on our Facebook page by 1:00 PM that day.
For our featured poets
We hope our measures help you feel comfortable in joining us, however, we completely respect your personal decision to cancel. We thank you for providing us with as much notice as possible, and will look forward to rebooking you in the future.
