Important information about COVID-19 and our local OA meetings

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Please note updates and additions in red.
With COVID-19 safety measures being taken, we have a few items to report about our local meetings.

Suspended meetings

The following meetings are suspended until further notice by their host facilities’ or members’ request:

  • Monday night in Dover, Wentworth/Douglass Hospital
  • Tuesday Night Durham at St. George’s Church
  • Wednesday night South Berwick
  • Thursday 6:00 PM in Portsmouth
  • Thursday 7:15ish men’s meeting in Portsmouth
  • Friday 10:00 AM in York
  • Saturday morning at 8:00 AM, York Hospital
  • Sunday morning, Portsmouth Hospital
  • Sunday night Wells meeting
How to report a suspended meeting
If you become aware of any additional suspensions of meetings, please reply to this email address so that we can promulgate the information to all our members.
Supplementing while local meetings are suspended
Please consider phone and online meetings as an alternative to face-to-face meetings. OA.org has a list of phone and online meetings, and several members of our Intergroup recommend A Vision for You, a Big Book study meeting with a strong message of hope through the Steps.
Meeting hygiene
Please, please, please use strong hygiene practices before, during, and after meetings. Remember you may not be symptomatic, and COVID-19 can be transmitted prior to symptoms appearing.
  • If you are immunodeficient, have underlying health conditions, or are in a high-risk group for COVID-19, please ask your doctor whether it is safe for you to attend a face-to-face meeting.
  • If you have been in contact directly or even indirectly with anyone infected, please ask your doctor whether it is safe for you to attend a face-to-face meeting.
  • If you are symptomatic (coughing, aching, fever, fatigue), DO NOT ATTEND A FACE-TO-FACE MEETING unless you’ve gotten a negative diagnosis for COVID-19—when in doubt, sit it out.
  • Wash your hands before the meeting, soaping for 20 seconds or longer (the length of the ABCs song)
  • Sneeze into your shoulder, not your hands—the hand(s) do not block all the spray.
  • Cough into your shoulder, not your hand—the hand does not block all the spray.
  • If you cough or sneeze into your hand, wash it before you have contact with other members.
  • Use personal distancing—sit about three feet from your fellows.
  • Avoid shaking hands, hugging, and other close personal contact.
  • And, obviously, if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19, stay home.
We addicts have distorted, self-centered thinking. Remember to think of others first to avoid receiving or spreading infection.
Thank you!