Protocols & Guides

Guidelines for NABat (North American Bat Monitoring Program) Volunteers in North Carolina during the COVID-19 Pandemic

To protect volunteers and the public, the following guidelines must be followed by all volunteers engaging in activities related to bat acoustic monitoring. These guidelines remain in effect until rescinded.

1. All bat acoustic work remains voluntary. No volunteer coordinator should demand or even encourage participation where it is not offered. Any volunteer who is uncomfortable, or who wishes not to participate, should not be persuaded.

2. Every volunteer will have an official letter head with them while driving their designated routes that states they have been given permission to drive slowly and to collect this bat acoustic data for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. This letter will be in the equipment bins.

3. When travelling to and from your survey route, follow the state requirements for social distancing.

4. Volunteers are required to wear mask in the same vehicle regardless whether they have been vaccinated.

5. If volunteers are driving by themselves you are required to let your coordinator know the dates and times you plan to survey your route. This way your coordinator can be in contact with you on the nights you survey to make sure you make it home safely.

6. To reduce the likelihood of contamination, please try to just have volunteers and coordinators handling the equipment.

7. When transferring equipment between a volunteer or coordinator, please refer to the Transfer of Equipment during COVID-19 and Cleaning Protocol guidelines below.

Transfer of Equipment during COVID-19:

1. Before meeting to transfer equipment, please refer to the volunteer contact sheet in the equipment kit for the cell number of the volunteer you are meeting to make arrangements.

2. When transferring equipment between volunteers, please agree to meet in a secure location where you can both follow the state requirements for social distancing: stay at least 6 feet away from people not in your household and please wear a mask.

3. If you are the one passing the equipment off to the next volunteer, please wear gloves or sanitize hands when handling the kit. Everything should have already been wiped down and clean inside the kit while doing your final inventory before closing the kit for transfer. The transfer will include the additional cleaning kit.

4. The volunteer receiving the equipment should put on gloves and do an inventory of what is in the kit with the equipment checklist found under the lid. Both parties can leave after all is accounted for in the kit and cleaning kit.

5. Please let your NA Bat coordinator know when you have received the kit.

Here are some best practices to help prevent exposure while at the gas pump.

• Consider carrying some disposable nitrile or latex gloves in your vehicle to use when gripping the pump handle. Short of that, you can try to use paper towels that are sometimes available at the pump or have some with you to cover your hands when you grip the handle.

• Do the same to isolate yourself from the keypad when entering payment information.

• Invert the gloves and throw them away, and also any paper towels you might have used. Use hand sanitizer to make sure your hands are clean after you’re done and before you get back into your car.

• Cleaning your hands after you’re done seems like the quickest, easiest precaution. But some drivers might want to have disinfectant wipes handy for wiping down the gas pump handle and the payment keypad before pumping.

***These practices can help ensure that you are not inadvertently transferring the virus from a high-touch surface like a gas pump to your vehicle’s door handle, and from there into the interior.***