General Principles
General Principles
• If a guest or employee is sick with COVID-19, was recently exposed (within 14 days) to someone with COVID-19, or just does not feel well, they should not visit the midway.
• Anyone who is in a high-risk category, as defined by the CDC, should not visit the midway.
• All guests and employees shall wear a cloth face covering in public areas.
• All guests and employees shall practice social distancing protocols in public areas per local regulations.
• Carnivals shall communicate and inform guests and employees of all the new protocols and procedures prior to arrival through employee training, social media, traditional media, and on the website, then upon arrival through signage, flyers, and announcements.
• There should be a designated individual on staff responsible for coordinating COVID-19 policies and procedures with the event producer and local health department.
• The COVID-19 coordinator shall document the execution of all protocols on a daily basis.
General Health and Safety
The following considerations must be worked through in conjunction with event organizers:
• Cleaning of the entire midway area – Use commercially available products to spray long lasting sanitation protectant to all surfaces.
• Establish protocols for interim sanitation of all high touch points for each ride, game, or concession.
• Establish increased protocols for sanitizing all public and communal areas, i.e., restrooms, ATMs, ticket purchase/exchange locations, etc. Encourage purchases be made online or in advance.
• Utilize touch-free or contactless payment options where possible. This includes transactions for rides, games, and concessions.
• Provide additional handwashing and/or hand sanitizing stations throughout the midway at entry and exit points, key thoroughfares, attractions, rides, games, food and beverage concessions, and outside restrooms.
• Place protective screens (plexiglass or other hygienic barriers) where there are interactions between employees and guests.
• Establish protocols when an employee or guest exhibits symptoms of COVID-19 when on the midway. Coordinate action with the fair to remove the party from public interaction and provide medical services off the midway.
• Establish pedestrian traffic flow plans to reduce bottlenecks and ensure the ability to maintain social distancing on the fair grounds.
• Increase the number of available restroom and handwashing facilities to alleviate crowding caused by waiting guests.
Social Distancing & Face Coverings
Social Distancing
• Establish overall capacity limits based on local formulas.
• We will limit the number of and capacity of individual rides and games to comply with local regulations for social distancing. Recognize that family members from the same household can be closer together. (Note: If space allows, we can consider 10-foot distancing when groups are permitted. If you have family units in line next to each other, it is difficult to make social distancing with groups only six feet apart.)
• Implementation of straight or L lines and indicate local requirements (usually six-foot increments) with signs and ground stickers. Implementation must occur at all queue lines. No switchback or serpentine lines.
• Employees will avoid physically assisting/lifting guests. If a guest needs assistance, ask another family member to help.
Face Coverings
When social distancing cannot take place, the wearing of face masks or cloth face coverings (covering nose and mouth) provides an additional level of safety for guests and employees and reduces the likelihood of contagious virus droplets transferring from one person to another.
We will designate “mask/face covering-free” areas where employees and guests can remove their masks for a short period of time to take a break. These designated mask-free areas will be large and open enough to allow people to follow physical distancing guidelines for your area when they are not wearing their masks. Signage will clearly identify these areas so they are easy to find.
We will provide staff with information on proper use, removal, and washing of masks.
Guests will be encouraged to follow CDC and local guidelines pertaining to wearing masks.
• Note: Masks should not be placed on:
o Babies and children younger than 2 years old
o Anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious
o Anyone who is incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.
Cleaning & Sanitizing
Cleaning & Sanitizing
High touch surfaces will be cleaned by employees throughout the day with an alcohol or bleach based disinfectant. High touch areas include ATM touch pads, ticket booth counters, ride entrance and exit fence handles, guest restraints on the rides, food concessions counters, and game concession counters.
Disinfectant wipes will be made available to guests throughout the midway for self-use at high touch surface points.
Prior to opening each day, and ongoing throughout the day, attractions will be thoroughly sprayed by employees with EPA approved disinfecting solutions. All attractions will be sprayed prior to opening and after that one ride at a time will be shut down for spraying throughout the operational day.
Game equipment touched by guests will be cleaned after each use. Returns of game prizes will be prohibited.
Hand sanitizing stations will be situated throughout the carnival midway and designated eating area, and will be fully stocked at all times.
Employer & Employee Responsibilities
Employer & Employee Responsibilities
A designated member of our staff will be responsible for coordinating COVID-19 policies and procedures with the event as well as with local Health Departments. Skerbeck Family Carnival's designated member is Jamee Skerbeck.
• Each employee’s temperature will be checked and logged before work shifts and they will not be allowed to work should they register a fever above 100.4 degrees.
• Staff will be educated on COVID-19 to include sanitation procedures for public and personal areas, social distancing requirements, use of PPE, and guest responsibilities.
• Staff will be trained with protocols developed for the specific ride, game, or food concession they work.
• Staff will be provided cloth protective face coverings, face shields, and other PPE as needed to be worn during all interactions with the public.
• Employee rotation cycles will be monitored to keep work teams together to reduce interactions between different groups of employees when possible.
• Absenteeism of employees will be monitored and staff will be cross-trained in order to respond to staffing shortages that may be COVID-19 related.
• Employees will be instructed to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer at least every 60 minutes and after any of the following: using the restroom, sneezing, touching their face, blowing their nose, cleaning, sweeping, mopping, eating, drinking, smoking, entering or leaving a guest area, and before and after their shift.
• We will discourage workers from using other workers’ phones, desks, offices or other work tools and equipment, when possible.
• There will be pre-opening daily meetings with staff and key stakeholders to review problem issues and plans to improve the experience and to incorporate customer comments and concerns.
• Staff travel between locations will incorporate safe protocols and will include limiting the number of people per vehicle.
• A policy regarding employees that feel ill or show symptoms of virus or infection, encouraging them to stay home without fear of being punished or losing their jobs will be implemented. Staff will be educated on when they can return to work.
• When appropriate, following CDC guidelines, shields and temporary barriers will be used between employees and the public.
• As a general rule, carnival employees should avoid physically assisting/lifting guests. If a guest needs assistance, they will first ask another family member to help. It is understood that carnival employees may still need to physically assist/lift guests in the event of a ride evacuation.
• Employees will be reminded they have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and to not adversely affect the health and safety of others.