New normal: Backcountry behaviors & protocols to reduce Covid-19 risk
In 2020 I’m hopeful that my personal and guided backpacking trips will take place. But it won’t be business as usual — on both private and commercial outings, individual behaviors and program protocols must reflect the new risk of Covid-19.
The preceding post is an objective assessment of this risk, and it serves as a factual basis to develop and identify mitigation tactics. The prescriptions on this page are specific to my guided trip program, but they can be a starting point for other backcountry users and organizations.
This is a four-part series of backcountry best practices in the coronavirus era, and should be read as a whole.
Executive summaryPart 1 || Covid-19: Objective risk assessmentPart 2 || New normal: Expected code of conductPart 3 || Navigating mandates & guidelines
Big picture
The recommendations on this page are primarily designed to:
1. Prevent transmission
Covid-19 is thought to spread mainly through respiratory droplets that are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. To prevent transmission of these droplets, take steps to:
Create distance between people; and,Avoid sharing potentially contaminated surfaces, especially without first washing or disinfecting them.
2. Protect vulnerable populations
The risk potential of Covid-19 is heavily skewed towards:
Older age groups, andPeople with underlying health conditions.
These populations — and those close to them — must be especially conservative in their risk tolerance.
The background will look the same in 2020, but group behavior will need to change.Individual code of conduct
To participate in our 2020 trips, we expect the following behaviors from both clients and guides:
Pre-trip health assessment
Stay home if you:
Have symptoms consistent with Covid-19;Had a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19 and cannot yet discontinue home isolation per CDC guidelines; or,Within the last fourteen days have been in contact with someone who displayed Covid-19 symptoms, at the time or since, and were not equipped with medical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE).
If you are a medical professional:
Abide by the guidelines above; and,Contact me if you’ve been exposed to Covid-19 within the last fourteen days so that we can discuss your unique situation.
Pre-trip risk assessment
Ultimately, responsibility for your safety rests mostly with you. A group can agree to abide by best practices, but every individual must take primary responsibility for their own safety.
The risk of Covid-19 can be reduced but not eliminated. Do you accept the risk to yourself, your group, and your family and friends?
Be especially mindful if you are in a high-risk population (i.e. older and/or underlying health conditions) or cannot avoid contact with those who are.
Expect that a clause pertaining to Covid-19 will be added to our Participant Agreement, which clients have always had to sign before joining us on a trip.
Required precautions
Starting fourteen days before your trip, take steps to minimize your risk of contracting Covid-19, if you are not already doing them. This conduct should continue throughout your trip and — ideally, though it’s less consequential to those in your group — afterwards as well.
Minimize social contact.Maintain a distance of six feet whenever possible between you and others. Wear a face covering when you will not have a six-foot buffer for more than a few seconds.Wash your hands with soap, especially after being in public spaces and before eating.Abide by group size limits, which vary by jurisdiction.Cover your face with a tissue or elbow while coughing or sneezing, and wash hands afterwards.Respect the mitigation behaviors of others, which may be different than yours.
Equally important, do not:
Touch your mouth, nose, or eyes with unsanitary hands.Share food or touch others’ belongings with unsanitary hands.Share your water or water bottle.
If you are joining us in Alaska, please familiarize yourself with the Covid-19 policies for Coyote Air, our bush plane service, which are mostly consistent with our own.
Greetings
This should go without saying, but shaking hands, hugging, and high-5’s are forbidden. Instead, try one of these, or another of your choosing:
Air hugs or air high-5’s,Slight bow,Hand over your heart,Blow kisses, orA secret dance.
Travel
When we’re in the field, the risk of contracting or spreading Covid-19 intuitively seems low, due to small group sizes, constant air flow, and ample space to spread out.
For the opposite reasons, traveling to the trailhead — especially by plane or other forms of public transit — seems riskier: more interaction, less air flow, and limited social distancing options.
To help minimize your risk while traveling:
Drive if you can; fly if you must.Socially distance, wear a mask, and wash your hands at all opportunities.Reduce contact by starting travel with all necessary food, drink, and fuel.Rather than staying in motels, consider camping nearby.Only share vehicles and lodging with members of your household.Disinfect shared surfaces before use (e.g. plane trays, rental car).
Post-trip
Have available a reliable quarantine option in the event that you feel sick or came into contact with someone who was sick.If you develop symptoms, self-quarantine and please inform me.
Face coverings
Consider the the long-term performance of your face-covering, since you may have to wear it for extended periods while traveling and hiking. Find one that is comfortable and stays put, and that doesn’t itch or pinch.
Personally, my go-to covering has become an elasticized polyester Buff. However, while on a commercial airplane I will probably use a true mask (N95) to combat the higher risk in this setting.
Guides
Additional precautions and behaviors must be adopted by guides:
When reviewing client gear at the trailhead, do not touch it.Favor verbal direction over physical assistance, like when setting up a client’s shelter.Role-model good behavior. And,Kindly enforce the new rules, and be willing to discuss the rationale openly.
It may take a few trips to get everything right — I may not have thought of everything we could do, and public guidelines will probably continue to evolve. So I’m giving guides the the discretion to improve or modify our best practices based on observation or group input. Please share feedback and tips with other guides and with me.
Client self sufficiency
Because guides will have fewer opportunities to physically assist clients, clients should practice or develop some skills beforehand, notably:
Packing your backpack; Pitching your shelter, including knot-tying; Operating a compass; and, Taking care of your feet.
Diagnostics
Testing
If clients and guides were tested for Covid-19 before their trip, it would lend confidence but wouldn’t be a magic bullet:
A negative viral test offers no assurance that you did not contract the disease between the time of the test and your arrival at the trailhead; and,A positive antibody test has not yet been proven to convey future immunity.
Rapid testing for Covid-19 at the trailhead would be more useful, but currently there are significant obstacles in making this a formal protocol.
A testing device like the Abbbot ID NOW is available only to authorized laboratories and patient care settings; The limited testing capacity is currently being dedicated to those with symptoms; and,For most trip locations it’d be logistically difficult to corral all clients and guides before the trip in order to be tested.
I will continue to pursue this opportunity, however, and hope that testing capacity will eventually allow for pre-screening of clients and guides.
Symptom checks
To help identify potential cases of Covid-19 within our ranks, clients and guides will complete regular symptom checks.
The first check will be done at our meetup spot, and other rounds will be done at the discretion of the guides — mornings and evenings would seem to be the most natural times.
To check for fever, no-touch thermometers will be added to the first aid kits.
Even if no clients or guides have Covid-19 symptoms, the core mitigating behaviors (social distancing, masks, hand-washing) must be maintained, since the group may have presymptomatic or asymptomatic carriers of the disease.
Food and meals
Preparation
The program will continue to supply breakfasts and dinners. These meals will be prepared at least 14 days in advance of your trip in accordance with normal food preparation guidelines.
Hand-washing
Before all communal meals — specifically, breakfasts and dinners — all clients and guides must wash their hands. Guides may want to make this a formal part of mealtimes.
Distribution
At the trailhead, clients and guides will be given their individual portion of the breakfasts and dinners (e.g. a bag of beans & rice, sans seasoning, cheese, and Fritos) by a guide with sanitized hands.
In the field, guides will prepare group food items (e.g. the cheese and Fritos) with clean hands. Spice kits can be passed around like normal, since all clients will have clean hands, too.
Instead of dividing group rations into the normal “red bowls,” each client will be given their own bowl at the trailhead that they must carry and care for. These bowls will be washed with soap and water between trips.
Some share of group food usually must be carried by the clients. To keep these items sanitary, clients should only access their food bags or canisters with clean hands.
Post-trip meal
After each trip we normally have an optional group meal at a nearby establishment. We will look for an eatery with take-out and ample outdoor eating space.
Program policies
Group size
Normally our maximum group size is 10 (on 5- and 7-day trips) or 12 (on 3-day trips), including two guides.
Group sizes must adhere to the current restrictions imposed by local policymakers. Guidance will be sought first from the land agency; if no guidance has been given, we will look to county or state officials.
To further reduce group size, guides are permitted to split into two independent patrols, assuming that normal protocols are followed, such as having an established meetup spot and time, and have a reliable communication system between the patrols.
Route planning
For the sake of trip quality, we sought out low-use areas even before Covid-19. We will continue to find such locations in 2020, for the added purpose now of minimizing on-trail contact with others.
The chosen routes must still be appropriate for the group’s abilities and in the context of on-the-ground conditions, however. The risk of overextending a client is probably greater than the risk of sharing an outdoor space with others.
Loop itineraries will be planned so that groups do not need shuttling.
Campsite selection
Select campsites that have sufficient space to observe social distancing:
Between individual sleeping spots; and,While eating and gathering.
This should not be a challenge for our 2020 trip locations, where generally we have lots of room to spread out. But I could see this being problematic for areas with:
Small designated campsites like Rocky Mountain National Park, orLimited campsites and/or high-use, which will cause crowding, such as along many sections of the Appalachian Trail.
Water purification
Guides will manage the water purification process.
When Aquamira drops are being dispensed into bottles, social distancing must be maintained (by putting bottles in a central space) or masks must be worn.
To eliminate the risk that identical water bottles will be mixed up, clients and guides should mark them distinctly. Tape works best; marker/Sharpie gets rubbed off after a few days.
Close-contact sessions
It may not always be possible or desirable to maintain a six-foot distance from others, like when reading a map or spotting a client on a difficult scramble. In these close-contact sessions, all participants must wear their face covering, and the session cannot start until everyone is safely covered.
Demo gear
If clients are uncomfortable with borrowing gear from us, they should obtain their own.
Between trip locations, any virus particles on demo gear will not survive, since there’s at least a two-week gap between blocks. Thus, the first trip in every location will have reliably coronavirus-free gear.
Stove systems will be washed in hot soapy water between trips.
I’m uncertain if sleeping bags and shelters can be cleaned properly between trips, when the turnaround time is less than 24 hours, and I’m soliciting feedback. It’d be practical for the guides to use a topical spray on these items and to lay them in the sun (if available), but we don’t have the time or facilities to thoroughly wash them.
Sleeping pads will not be available until further notice. Even our pads that can be pumped remotely must be topped off with a few breaths.
First aid
Additional PPE will be added to the kits, to supplement what is used or lost during the trip.
Guides should clean their hands before using or dispensing any supplies.
Emergency protocols
Respiratory distress that cannot be resolved is a life-threatening emergency, regardless of whether it’s related to Covid-19 or not. Normal evacuation protocols should be followed while still maintaining Covid-19 best practices (social distancing if possible, mask if not, hand-washing).
In most cases of Covid-19, clients and guides would have a few days to exit the backcountry before symptoms become severe. But evacuating soon after the onset of a cough or fever would seem prudent.
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