I skipped this season. I made the decision in the summer due to an unrelated personal reason but even when that reason evaporated in the fall, I did not sign up to judge meets because I had no confidence there would be much of a season to make paying the fee$ worth it. Add to that, at the meets, the judges would have to sit apart, eat boxed lunches apart, etc. to be safe and meet new local regulations, so I'd have to sit alone for 10-12 hours in a mask and it didn't sound fun, plus I would be getting paid for fewer hours than before because of decreased paid breaks (which does help meets, I understand, but makes my effective hourly pay decrease). I am supposed to solo judge one unsanctioned dual-squad meet in February with max 20 girls in the session and no spectators, but we'll see if that happens.
What we were told is that after being assigned to a meet but before we accepted, we would see the list of safety precautions being put in place by the meet so we could choose if it matched our comfort level, but outside of what is required for state regulations, all the precautions were up to the meet director's discretion and there was no required set of precautions. I just got notice from my state's chair that if judges feel that the promised safety precautions are not in place or are not meeting local regulations and the meet director cannot immediately rectify the issue, the judges can choose not to judge the competition & leave the meet that day and are still to be reimbursed for mileage, etc., but it is not a sanction violation. I would imagine the pressure not to do that would be high, however, since it would effectively punish any remaining judges and the gymnasts who are not at fault.
Many of the judges in my area are retirees who are in higher risk age groups so they are the ones most in need of protection at the meets and it does make me nervous to think about losing a friend just to have meets. If community spread were at (local) summertime levels, maybe, but now?
