Take care of yourself if the others want to expose themselves that's their problem. It's quite responsible of you to try and convince your friends to be safe.

Just don’t attend until the scare has passed...

I can understand how, for the elderly, social contact is as important as life itself. But they may want to consider the misery of dying in this way.

Denial runs strong in some people. I'm still trying to get my 83-year old mother to cut back on her social life, as the death rate for 80+ is currently at 15%.

It would be interesting to know if the membership is as resistant as leadership but, whether you discuss it with them or not, protect yourself, @AnneWimsey.

This is a good time to get creative about online meeting platforms. Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook Live, etc. An in-person conversation isn’t worth dying for.

It was a reasonable suggestion, and I'd ignore "current leadership", and not attend any functions out of an abundance of caution.
If you still have email addresses for other members, you could always contact them privately to share your concerns.

You did your due diligence. Now, all you can do is protect yourself.

You’ve done your part. You can take a hiatus from attending until things settle down. The others get to make their own decisions. (You can lead a horse to water...)

Hey, you tried, just don't go.

I am an NP in hospital med. You're not being alarmist; they just have their heads in the sand. My father is 78 and I have convinced him to stop volunteering at the hospital.

I would tend to agree with you. You can certainly simply not go; in that case, I would make sure my friends, all, knew why.

just don't go its bigger venues they say over 250 but you are all in an at risk group
my nasty brother sick as hell goes out everyday and dialysis 3 times a week who knows the other four talk about nervous me not him he is younger than me

Timing & Geographical location....
Are members world travelers?
As an extreme introvert I've been self quarantining for years.

I wouldn't go. Just because others are naive at best or stupid at worst, doesnt make me go along with them .