COVID-19 Safety

Boston Balboa takes its precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic very seriously.

Please do not attend a Boston Balboa event if you are sick. If you have a known COVID-19 exposure within 10 days of the event, please do not attend if you have any symptoms at all. All Boston Balboa events require suitable masking (see below for detailed policy). If you are unable to attend due to illness or recent exposure we will refund your admission upon request.

If you test positive within 10 days after a Boston Balboa event, please let us know by email via info@bostonbalboa.org so that we may provide contact tracing for the rest of the community. (we will keep your personal information private.)

COVID-19 is an airborne illness. New variants continue to arise due to mutation that arises as new infections and transmissions continue. It is important to distinguish between metrics above which there’s risk of the healthcare system being overwhelmed, and metrics above which there’s significant risk of individual transmission and negative health impacts.

During partner dancing, and Balboa in particular, social distancing is not possible, and we have sustained, physical proximity and contact with multiple people. Dancing is also an athletic activity, and athletic activities have been shown to greatly increase the amount of aerosol particulates that we breathe out, which adds risk of increased viral load if a dancer is infected.

From New York’s Frim Fram Jam, in response to a question about their safety policies:

Before anything else – the health and safety of our community and its members is our highest priority and drives any decision. If it means we risk income, interrupt our schedule, or have a stricter policy than other events in our community, that is a sacrifice we are willing and happy to make.

Secondly – to address your comment that our policy is “more restrictive than the subway, stadiums, concerts, library” – you are exactly right. It is, and that is by design. From our perspective, intense, prolonged, crowded, face-to-face, full-contact physical activity in a closed environment is a riskier proposition than a (relatively) short ride in a subway making multiple stops with open doors, open-air stadiums with primarily sitting attendees, or a library where people are sitting quietly at a fair distance from one another. We hope you can see that difference too. We’d say that our closest comparison is the gym, but even there you don’t have the proximity and direct contact that we do social dancing. This is a high-risk activity and we are trying to do everything we can to make it as safe as possible. You may want to have a look at this article in the NYT, “Why the Air at the Gym May Be More Likely to Spread Covid:” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/well/move/covid-gym-air.html

Mask requirements

Masks continue to be one of the single most effective means of preventing transmission. For the safety of our entire community, we will be enforcing a mask requirement while indoors for class, during practice, and socializing whenever COVID wastewater levels indicate masking is needed; see below for specifics.

  • masks must be N95/KN95/KF94 (suitable masks will be provided at the door if you forgot to bring one or do not have one of sufficient quality)
  • masks must be worn over both the nose and mouth at all times. (you may briefly remove your mask to drink a sip of water while distanced.)

Please make sure your mask is well-fitting for dancing. If your mask is not covering your nose and mouth, we may remind you to do so. If we have to remind you a 3rd time, you may be asked to leave the venue.

As of summer 2026, we have finally seen a multi-week period where wastewater levels stayed below 50, creating very low infection risk. This had not been the case since summer 2021, and we were very glad to see it, and started drafting a data-driven masking policy rather than a blanket requirement. However, as of September 2026, wastewater levels are again spiking and COVID cases are increasing anecdotally. This illustrates exactly why our mask policy needs to be data-driven: things change over time. We have been monitoring wastewater levels since they became available, and you can keep an eye on them yourself if you like.

New Data-Driven Masking Policy (September 2026)

Here are the metrics we’ll use to determine whether masking is required or optional at a given Boston Balboa event:

Masks are OPTIONAL but recommended for local events if any of these are true:

  • Wastewater levels are under 50 and have been so for at least 2 weeks
  • Wastewater levels are under 100 for at least 4 weeks and the trend is stable or downward.

Masks are REQUIRED if any of these are true:

  • Event is a workshop weekend where folks are coming from out of town;
    there’s no practical way to check data for every person’s origin and travel plans
  • Wastewater levels are over 100
  • Wastewater levels are under 100 but haven’t been so for the prior 4 weeks
  • Wastewater levels are under 100 for at least 4 weeks but the trend is upward
  • Wastewater levels are under 50 but haven’t been so for the prior 2 weeks

Wastewater numbers are published each Thursday afternoon.  We will check the most recent numbers available the day before local classes/events and notify attendees of any change to status. If that change affects the attendee’s decision to attend, we will offer a refund or credit. We reserve the right to change this policy or safety requirements at any time, but will always do our best to notify everyone as soon as possible.

Vaccination

Vaccination provides additional protection for you and for others sharing spaces with you. Vaccine cards are no longer consistently updated when receiving boosters, so it is impractical to require or check vaccine status. We encourage you to get vaccinated, but we require you to mask in our spaces per the above.