The Owner of Brighton Speedway is helping to lead the charge in a new proposal entitled Back To The Track.
Mark Rinaldi spoke to Quinte News about plans to get racing again at the speedway. He says almost all tracks across the province, including Brighton and Shannonville, have signed on to a proposal to the province (Back to the Track), which would be a map to racing in 2021.
“There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of work has gone into this document. It includes social distancing, limiting in-person contact, promoting pre-payment, masks, stay-at-home policies for staff and volunteers, and staggering times for fans to use the concessions,” Rinaldi says. “We also would limit fan interaction with pit crews and drivers.”
“Depending on where we are in the province we can have different capacity in the grandstands. If we are a Green Zone – 50%, Yellow – 35%, Orange – 20%, Red-no fans, and no racing in a lockdown (grey zone). About 70% of our fans, pit crews and drivers come from Brighton, Quinte West, Belleville, and The County, so we can still operate with local support only if we have to. We may have to restrict where fans and racers are coming from, but the main goal is to keep people safe. We feel these guidelines will help to pay the bills, manage overhead, and get a return to racing.”
MORE BELOW
BELOW IS THE 12-Page Back to the Track Proposal
The Ontario Motorsports Promoters continue to work as a group to develop innovative and safe ways to the follow the guidelines established for “Returning to the COVIC-19 Response Framework”. As a group we have been able to use the initial steps we offered in our “Back to the Track ”guidelines to safely host track days, practice events and events with no fans with limited competitors and minimal staff. We are now looking to open our facilities with safe limitations that enable business owners to pay bills and manage their overhead costs.
As an outdoor recreation activity; a motorsports event, conducted with full regard to public safety guidelines regarding social distancing and proper health measures to limit or eliminate exposure to possible respiratory illness, is feasible. As promoters we understand risk but we also understand the need to be profitable. Our guidelines determined in our original “Back to the Track” proposal that was accepted have been extended to include guidelines on managing fans in the stands. The following guidelines we believe will enable us to operate safely during these unprecedented times.
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Follow provincial and health unit guidelines in relation to COVID-19 and utilize the government provided website for resources at Ontario.ca.
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Require all participants and workers to wear masks, for not only their own safety but for the safety of everyone on-site.
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Provide COVID-19 prevention supplies to event staff and participants—such as hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, disposable gloves, trash baskets, disposable face masks and cleaners/disinfectants.
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Plan ways to limit in-person contact for workers supporting your events; i.e. Electronic communication and pre-payment.
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If possible, identify a space that can be used to isolate staff or participants who may become ill at the event.
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Develop flexible refund policies for participants.
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Encourage/Require event staff to stay at home if they are at higher risk for severe illness, or if they are sick or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough or shortness of breath.
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Plan for additional staffing needs should a regular event staff member become ill or need to stay home due to being in a high-risk category.
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Develop plans for limiting the sharing of equipment or the sanitization of equipment during hand-offs.
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Determine how to hold driver meetings within social distancing protocols, keeping in mind any site-specific limitations such as access to PA systems or wide-spread internet access.
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Employees where possible will have minimal contact with customers in the grandstands. Maintaining safe distance while handling goods and taking payment.
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Ensure all entrances / exits can maintain safe physical distancing.
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Post and communicate COVID – 19 policies that cover how the race track will operate, including but not limited to:
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the sanitization of the workplace
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how workers report illnesses
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how to ensure physical distancing
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how work will be scheduled
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screening measures
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Provide consistent and informative pre-event messaging to participants and workers so that everyone arrives to the site with an understanding of the COVID-19 safety protocols.
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Ask that anyone who is at higher risk for severe illness, feeling unwell, or who has been in contact with anyone that is sick in the last two weeks to stay home.
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Describe your cancellation policy, so that drivers are not pressured to come to an event while feeling unwell.
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Provide participants with protocols they are expected to follow – Social distancing, frequent hand washing, face covering, what to bring, etc.
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Describe to participants the protocols that workers will follow, so that they may make an educated decision about attending the event.
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Ensure that event workers are aware of the safety protocols they will need to practice and will enforce them on-site.
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Encourage participants to come prepared to protect themselves and their equipment.
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Provide workers and participants with details on additional precautions that your Municipality is taking.
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Use disinfecting wipes or disinfectant spray and disposable towels to wipe down equipment, supplies, shared work areas and surfaces between uses, shift changes and frequently throughout the day.
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Clean frequently touched surfaces such as tables, counters, doorknobs, light switches, pens, keyboards, and cones (when used).
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Ensure there is plenty of hand washing stations or hand sanitizers in and around the facility, particularly high traffic areas.
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Do not provide community food tables.
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As much as possible, staff should keep a single radio with them and not hand off between staff members; before storing or when giving it to another staff member, wipe off the radio with a disinfectant wipe.
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Depending on the space available in the pits, have a detailed parking plan, that parks haulers at minimum2 meters or 6’ away from other vehicles or as far as pit space allows. When mapping out the parking plan be sure to keep in mind unloaded cars and limited crew members that must social distance.
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Only allow essential, on-duty workers in specialty work areas such as timing and scoring; when someone is not working a session, they should remain at their cars or follow social distancing protocols.
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Consider placing flyers at key locations across the event site to remind people of social distancing and protective health protocols.
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GRANDSTAND ADMISSIONS / SPECTATOR TRAFFIC FLOW
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Number of Spectator should be based on capacity of the facility and in direct correlation with the “returning to the COVID-19 response framework” regional colour code framework as follows:
Spectator Limitations based on capacity
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Green Region – 50% of capacity
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Yellow Region – 35% of capacity
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Orange Region – 20% of capacity
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Red Region – Competitors and Crew Only
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Gray Region – No Racing
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These percentage of capacity numbers should be reviewed and adjusted based on the Provinces overall recovery and gradually returns to a revised and strengthened COVID-19 framework.
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Six feet of space should be kept between individuals for the entirety of the event, except in cases of participants that are part of the same social circle.
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Masks are mandatory in all common areas of the facility.
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Entrance
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Set up ticket sales for;
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When possible advance or online ticket sales is preferred
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Develop a separate entrance for advance ticket holders to reduce congestion,
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Point Of Sale (POS) ticket sales should be managed in a way that there are no excessive line ups or gathering’s around ticket counters or entrance gates.
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Develop a method to keep six feet between individuals while waiting in line
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Use guide rails or pylons or ground markers to designate space at ticket booth.Develop a method for contact tracing for COVID-19 by providing designated areas to collect names and phone numbers from each person who enters the facility either online or at entry
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Separate your bleachers into sections (Section A, B, C, etc.) in order to help manage crowds, during online sales or at POS assign each spectator to a section so spectators are evenly dispersed throughout your facility.
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Ensure social distancing between each group. A group being described as individuals who attend the event together and are already included in their social circle. This group can be no greater than 10 individuals.
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Concessions and Common Area’s
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Masks are mandatory for anyone leaving their seat and heading to a common area.
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Using your spectator sections set a time frame for each section to venture to the concessions or common areas. Example: spectators in section A may go to the concession stand between 7:00pm and 7:30pm, spectators in section B may go to the spectators stand between 7:30pm and 8:00pm, etc.
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Common areas such as outdoor concessions and courtyards must maintain an easy flow of traffic. Use guide rails or pylons or ground markers to designate spaceand traffic flow routes.Additional ushers are suggested to ensure people are following the guidelines and rules set out.
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Public bathroom facilities must be maintained on a regular basis. Ensure there are enough bathrooms available to handle the allowed spectator capacity and ensure line ups kept to a minimum and sanitizing stations readily available throughout the facility.
Provide parking attendants to park cars and if needed stage the entrance of people by asking people to remain in their vehicles until it is their time to line up for the POS tickets.
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- Seating of Spectators
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Event Conclusion and Exiting the Facility
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Masks are mandatory for anyone leaving their seat and therefore when leaving the facility
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Open as many possible exits as possible so people are not funneled through one gate.
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.Using the spectator sections again, in an orderly fashion either allows only one section to leave the facility at a time or alternatively if available you can direct different seating sections to different exits.
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Six feet of space should be kept between individuals for the entirety of the event, except in cases of participants that are part of the same household.
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Staff may need to gently reinforce this requirement throughout the event.
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Anyone who continues to ignore social distancing procedures even after staff input may need to be asked to leave.
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Event staff should be required to wear cloth face coverings or masks.
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Provide COVID-19 prevention supplies to event staff and participants if they do not supply their own.
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Remember to, and encourage others to, wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds regularly especially after using the restroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. Use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if hand washing facilities are not available. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
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Suspend social aspects of the event, i.e. meals, parties etc.
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Discourage eating in indoor/enclosed locations.
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Close all indoor eating or lounge areas to discourage “hanging out.”
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Limit physical contact; refrain and discourage hugs, handshakes and high-fives.
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Worker lunches, if provided, should be pre-assembled for a grab & go service or have them delivered directly to workers. Encourage workers to eat at their car or maintain 6-foot social distancing protocols.
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If a participant meal is provided, have the food served and provide to-go containers so people may take it back to their camping and paddock areas.
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Limit tower access to essential workers only. If rotating positions, leave the tower until your next scheduled session.
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Mitigate any possible transactions as possibleat this high traffic area. Ask the track worker to wear a mask and gloves and to sanitize the pen and clipboard after every person.
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Where required make waivers available on line prior to the event and have drivers and crew print them off in advance and bring them with them to the track already completed.
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You may also recommend in pre-event communications that everyone bring their own pen to sign with to minimize pens being passed through many hands.
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Place staff or security at main entrance to keep unauthorized people from entering the facility grounds.
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Online registration should be left open so that atevent walk-ups can register for the event with little/no contact.
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Tracks should utilize ticket office/registration buildings with individual walk-up windows that help maintain physical separation and protection from splashes/sprays. Limit the number of people allowed in the registration building to 10.
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If the above is not available, registration should be held in an open area like an open garage or outside.
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Free standing Plexiglas barriers are encouraged.
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Registrar stations shall be 6 ft apart.
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Provide proper barricading and crowd control at Registration table to create separation and keep participants back acceptable social distancing protocols.
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If registration is held indoors:
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Limit the number of people permitted inside based on the size of the room, keep 6 feet apart.
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Mark the floor indicating where people should stand—use a bright color like blue or green painters tape.
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Use different doors for entrance and exit, when possible.
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Where available, utilize online waivers through registration software.
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Do not handle clipboards. Have waivers sitting in a place accessible by the participant. Sanitize hands before and after handling the pen.
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Registrars should not handle membership cards or driver’s licenses.
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Use scanners to scan membership cards OR
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Ask member to hold it up and visually check the validity OR
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Use member look-up in the Member Account Portal to verify membership
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Have wristbands or event credentials on a table for participants to pick up or have registrar just hand it to the participant to put on. Wristbands should be separated prior to opening registration.
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Provide online registration, waiver submission and payment online as available to minimize contact entirely.
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Driver meetings may be held if they are outside and social distancing protocols can be followed however, holding meetings over the PA, FM radio stations, via live stream and/or via email is preferred.
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Worker meetings may be held if they are outside and social distancing protocols can be followed; otherwise worker meetings may be held over the radio net.
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Add information about COVID-19 procedures to your normal meeting content and allow for Q&A.
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Virtual meetings can be held the day before. Options for virtual meetings include:
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Includes timing & scoring, registration, race control (for road race and time trials), sound, etc.
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Each specialty location should be equipped with appropriate disinfectant, hand sanitizer, etc.
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Minimize number of people in the work area, ensuring 6 feet of separation.
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Strongly encourage/mandate workers to wear masks (provide PPE to workers at no cost when necessary)
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Disinfect all shared work areas—including computer equipment and radios—between staffing changes and at the end of the day.
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Disinfect all shared equipment before and after use
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Each specialty location should be equipped with appropriate disinfectant, hand sanitizer, etc.
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Includes pit, grid, start, sound, flagging, paddock, etc.
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Limit to 5 workers per specialty area.
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General social distancing protocols should be followed.
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Mandateworkers to wear masks when a two (2) meters, six (6’) distance cannot be followed
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Use baggies to transport disinfected equipment, supplies to corner stations and other specialty locations; disinfect after use
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Disinfect all shared work areas and equipment between staffing changes and at the end of the day.
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Only essential, on-duty workers are allowed in specialty work areas.
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If canopies/tents are used, leave sides open or removed.
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Self-tech w/oversight if possible.
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If technical inspector worker is required to inspect a vehicle mandate that they wear appropriate PPE including a mask and gloves, ensure drivers and essential crew members provide social distancing of two (2) meters, six (6’) while inspector is in their pit area.
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Have driver perform functions to verify equipment where possible.
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Wear nitrile gloves* (nitrile preferred to latex due to allergies).
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All communications with drivers should be done with one-way or two-way radios if possible.
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All pit lane workers must wear a mask when conversing with drivers or other workers.
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When speaking to drivers use the passenger side whenever possible to allow for extra distance. If the car is particularly loud and makes it challenging to speak from a distance, you may need to ask the driver to turn off the car.
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Disinfect shared equipment and supplies before and after each use; use baggies to transport either contaminated or disinfected equipment.
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Assign household members together, when possible.
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Keep corner teams together at the same station during the entire event.
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All personnel drive separately to the station, when possible; if this is not possible, do not fill the transport vehicle to capacity and have passengers wear masks.
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One worker per vehicle if possible.
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Each person in the vehicle should wear a mask.
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Disinfect interior before and after use.
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Medical and Fire Personnel should follow protocols outlined by their employer and local recommendations.
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PARTICIPATING TRACKS
- Brighton Speedway
- Brighton Speedway Go-Kart Track
- Brockville Speedway
- Brockville Speedway Go-Kart Track
- Calabogie Motorsports Park
- Cornwall Speedway
- Cornwall Speedway Go-Kart Track
- Delaware Speedway
- Emo Speedway
- Flamboro Speedway
- Grand Bend Motorplex
- Grand Bend International Speedway
- Humberstone Speedway
- Jukasa Motor Speedway
- Laird Raceway
- Lake of the Woods Speedway
- Merrittville Speedway
- Merrittville Go-Kart Track
- Mosquito Speedway
- Ohsweken Speedway
- Ohsweken Speedway Micro Sprint Track
- Peterborough Speedway
- Sauble Speedway
- Shannonvile Dragway
- Shannonville Motorsports Park
- St. Thomas Dragway
- Sunset Speedway
- Varney International Speedway
COVID took the vast majority of fans out of the stands (Photo: submitted to Quinte News by Mark Rinaldi)
