*8/24/22 UPDATE*
It has been 2.5 years since we entered the mess that became the Covid19 pandemic. During that period of time, RRG has been shut down completely, then allowed to only do curb-side pickup, and then able to open for sales but not for events. Even with all of these precautions put in place, we have too many friends of the store suffering from long-Covid, and too many friends of the store who are gone forever. We still miss them.
We have said since the beginning we were going to side with the science and ignore all the political non-sense and misinformation that was being put out. We required masks in the store as recommended by the CDC & Illinois Dept of Health, and required vaccines for in-store play to limit exposure for both staff & customers. The goal post was to keep people alive long enough for mass vaccination & for the USA to reach some form of herd immunity.
The Omicron variant said “hold my beer” and proceeded to step right through vaccination protections, and was once again spreading in the USA. The only good news is that while far more communicable, the Omicron variant is not nearly as deadly as the Delta variant and if you are vaccinated, you have a greater chance of dying from a lightning strike than dying of Covid-19 now.
Because of the number of people who are now vaccinated, or actually had Covid, the CDC recently updated their guidance, and we are updating with them.
“Dr. Greta Massetti, the CDC’s chief field epidemiologist, who announced the changes to the agency’s COVID-19 guidance on Aug. 11, said the decision took into account where we are in the pandemic right now.
“High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection, and the many tools that we have available to protect people from severe illness and death, have put us in a different place,” Massetti said, adding that based on the latest data, around 95% of the population now has some level of immunity due to to vaccination, previous infection or a combination of both.”
Here is a summary of the current CDC guidance (found here: How to Protect Yourself and Others | CDC)
– Get vaccinated. If you are vaccinated, you can still get Covid, but the chance of getting severely sick is so low as to be irrelevant. The only person you should listen to about vaccines is YOUR doctor.
– If you have been exposed to someone who is Covid positive, wear a high-quality mask for 10 days to avoid giving Covid to someone else.
– If you have symptoms of Covid, take a test. If you test positive, you should isolate at home for 5 days. If symptoms improve after 5 days and there has been no fever for 24 hours without the use of medications, take another test. If it is negative, you should be good to go.
Given this updated policy from the CDC, here is RRG’s new Covid policy:
– RRG will no longer require proof of vaccination to play in events at the store. We ask that if you are not feeling well, you stay home, just like you would for the flu or a cold.
– RRG asks that if you were exposed to someone who tested positive, you wear a mask if you come to the store.
– We ask that you wash your hands with soap often, just like we were all taught in kindergarten. 
– RRG will continue to run air purifiers in the store all the time. (We just did annual maintenance on them last week)
– RRG will continue to provide hand sanitizer in multiple locations all over the store.
– RRG will continue our cleaning regimen to provide as clean & safe a place for you to shop & play.
This policy update will take effect immediately.