Coronavirus Updates for Association and Events Professionals – What You Need to Know

About this list

I started this listing on February 20th, when there was still a question of whether or not conferences could still be held with the impending threat of the novel coronavirus.

A lot has changed since February 2020.

Photo by Edward Jenner from Pexels

While I am no longer updating this list daily, I will continue to update this list with helpful links to news and resources I’ve found that could impact how association and events professionals make decisions as we look to the horizon.

Please bookmark this page and check back regularly for some valuable information curated for the Association Chat audience.

If you see something others should know about, please add your own links in the comments below the post.

  • Need some levity? Check out my COVID-19 Playlist on Spotify (made with the collaboration of Association Chat Facebook group members)
  • On Twitter? I’ve started a Twitter list of solid sources for COVID-19 information. Feel free to follow it!**
  • Need a job? Need a worker? Looking to hire or be hired? Here’s a shared spreadsheet you can add your info to – The Hire Me List!

[Last Updated: 2020.07.14 1:13 pm ET]

Here’s the latest

  • Philly to cancel all large events through February, including Mummers and Thanksgiving parades (source: The Philadelphia Inquirer) July 14, 2020 – Philadelphia officials are expected to announce Tuesday that all large, public events will not be permitted through the end of February, spelling a fall and winter without the Philadelphia Marathon, Broad Street Run, the Thanksgiving Day parade, or the Mummers parade. […]

  • Masks And Mouse Ears: Disney World Reopens As Coronavirus Cases Climb In Florida (source: NPR.org) July 11, 2020 –Nearly four months after it closed over coronavirus concerns, Disney World is once again inviting guests to experience its Florida theme parks.The reopening comes as Florida is experiencing a surge of new coronavirus cases, with more than 10,000 being reported on Saturday.Both Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened Saturday to the general public, following limited openings for annual-pass holders and employees. The other two area parks — Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios — are expected to open on Wednesday.

    But before parkgoers can get into the “happiest place on Earth,” they’ll have to get used to a few changes. []

  • ‘Please Scream Inside Your Heart,’ Japanese Amusement Park Tells Thrill-Seekers (source: NPR.org) July 9, 2020 –The Fuji-Q Highland amusement park near Tokyo has an unorthodox request for its roller coaster riders.“Please scream inside your heart,” and not out loud, the park is asking. The unusual ask is meant to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.While some may be skeptical that it’s possible to quietly ride a roller coaster, a promotional video from Fuji-Q proves that it can be done.
  • Tracking The Pandemic: Are Coronavirus Cases Rising Or Falling In Your State? (source: NPR.org) June 29, 2020 – More than 2 million people in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 120,000 have died. Though growth in new cases slowed in late spring, by mid-June new cases began to trend upward nationally.[In this article] explore the trend in new cases in your state to see whether cases are rising, falling or staying level. You can view the data via a heat map (immediately below), a curve chart and a table with details on each state’s cases over the last three weeks. Or to see states’ total cases and deaths on a map, click here.
  • Big Trade Shows Have All Been Canceled. Why They May Never Come Back. (source: Barron’s) June 26, 2020 – As I watched Tim Cook and his colleagues deliver their virtual keynote at Apple’s developer conference this past week, I had a surprising realization: The digital show was better than the annual event I’ve spent years covering in person.

  • What Events Are Going Ahead Despite the Pandemic? (EventMB) June 24, 2020 – A growing number of countries are reauthorizing large professional events including trade shows, conferences, exhibitions, and congresses. Here is a list of events moving forward in the third and fourth quarter of 2020, and early 2021.

  • For Conference Planners, Virus Means a ‘Huge Learning Curve’ (source: NY Times) May 18, 2020 – “No one really had this in their playbook,” one said. At the moment, there are few answers on what business meetings will look like.

  • Revisiting agile teams after an abrupt shift to remote (source: McKinsey & Company) April 28, 2020 – Agile teams traditionally excel when their members are co-located. Here’s how to ensure they’re effective now that COVID-19 has forced them to work remotely.

  • COVID-19 Impact Quadrant (source: Moengage Covid Report) April 24, 2020 – With a vision to bring such information to the fore, we set out analyzing data trends of more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, across 12 different industry verticals. We found that while Retail, Real-Estate, and Travel & Hospitality industries have struggled, industries such as Media & Entertainment, Video Conferencing and Social Media have prospered. This report contains data primarily from North America, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. We hope you can leverage this data to design strategies that add value to both you and your customers.
  • An Emerging Virtual Event World with KiKi L’Italian (source: Inside Events Podcast, EP9) April 17, 2020 – We recorded this episode on Global Meetings Industry Day (#GMID20), where poignant data emerged from more than 7,000 survey responses during the online meetings. Megan discusses this data with guests Kiki L’Italien of Association Chat and Godefroy de Francs of Swapcard. They also talk about the impact of the global health situation on the Association market and how technology can help the industry become more sustainable in the future.

  • Facebook Calls off Live Events Until the Summer of 2021 (source: NASDAQ.com) April 17, 2020 – Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is requiring the vast majority of its employees to work from home at least through the end of May and said it’s canceling any large events until the summer of 2021.

    In a blog post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out the tech giant’s plan to start bringing its employees back to work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In early March, Facebook ordered its workforce of nearly 45,000 full-time employees to work remotely.

  • The future of big events in Nashville are in question amid COVID-19 (source: WKRN.com) April 17, 2020 –
Thumbnail for the video titled "The future of big events in Nashville are in question amid COVID-19"
  • Facebook cancels all large, in-person events through June 2021 (source: DigitalTrends) April 16, 2020 – Facebook is the latest tech giant to adopt such a policy; two weeks ago, Microsoft reportedly canceled all of its events through June 2021 as well.

    Facebook’s decision reflects the growing concern that the coronavirus pandemic will not be controlled anytime soon and that social distancing may be the new normal. In a paper published recently in Science, researchers concluded that, barring the development of a cure or new treatments, “prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2022.”

  • American Medical Association Opposes US Suspension of WHO Funding (source: Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security) April 15, 2020 – “During the worst public health crisis in a century, halting funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) is a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier. Fighting a global pandemic requires international cooperation and reliance on science and data. Cutting funding to the WHO – rather than focusing on solutions – is a dangerous move at a precarious moment for the world. The AMA is deeply concerned by this decision and its wide-ranging ramifications, and we strongly urge the President to reconsider.” – Statement attributed to: Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A.; President, American Medical Association

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

  • The Price of the Coronavirus Pandemic (source: The New Yorker) April 13, 2020 – As April arrived, businesses, large and small, decided not to pay rent, either because they didn’t have the cash on hand or because, with a recession looming, they wanted to preserve what cash they had. Furloughed or fired employees, meanwhile, faced similar decisions, as landlords sent threatening reminders. Would property owners, without their monthly nut, be able to finance their own debts? And what of the banks, with all the bad paper? In the last week of March, an additional 6.6 million Americans filed jobless claims, doubling the previous week’s record. […] At a certain point, the pandemic will recede and leave behind a severe economic crisis, affecting everyone in ways and degrees that are impossible to predict. The financial markets are a bellwether, at least. Deflation or inflation? Rising rates? Negative rates? Three months? Six? Two years? Schools? Museums? Airplanes? Concerts? Nobody knows anything. The only thing we can say with certainty is that the pain will be unfairly distributed. People are betting on it.

  • Disney World Furloughing 43,000 Workers (source: NY Times) April 12, 2020 – The action comes after the Florida attraction closed last month because of the coronavirus pandemic. About 200 employees who are considered essential will remain on the job.

  • Convention Centers Fill With Beds For COVID-19, Including 500 For Boston’s Homeless (source: CommonHealth 90.0 WBUR) – For the last five days, workers from Teamsters Local 25 have filled the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center with rows of walls and curtains. Where it was empty a week ago, the floor will now bustle with medical rooms a thousand deep – a new field hospital to care for patients with COVID-19. Raised over the rooms is a blue and yellow flag with the hospital’s name: Boston Hope.

  • Why the coronavirus lockdown is making the internet stronger than ever (source: Technology Review) April 8, 2020 – Far from breaking it, the surge in usage the internet is seeing right now is driving a major upgrade.

“The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment,” said the United States surgeon general, Dr. Jerome M. Adams, on the news show “Meet the Press.” “It’s going to be our 9/11 moment. It’s going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives.”

  • U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson taken to hospital due to persistent coronavirus symptoms (source: nbcnews.com) April 5, 2020 – U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was taken to the hospital for tests on Sunday, more than a week after he tested positive for coronavirus.

  • Tiger at NYC’s Bronx Zoo tests positive for coronavirus (source: AP News) April 5, 2020 – A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the new coronavirus, in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U.S. or a tiger anywhere, federal officials and the zoo said Sunday.

    “We tested the cat out of an abundance of caution” and aim to “contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus,” said Dr. Paul Calle, the zoo’s chief veterinarian.

  • “Digital Mirage” Online Music Festival (source: Morning Brew Newsletter) March 31, 2020 – DIGITAL MIRAGE brings together the electronic music world for a weekend online, featuring sets some of the most talented artists from all parts of the internet. 100% of proceeds will be going to the Sweet Relief foundation to help support musicians and music creatives who are suffering financial instability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Presented by Proximity + Brownies & Lemonade.

  • The Tokyo Olympics have a new opening ceremony date: July 23, 2021. (source: ESPN) March 31, 2020 – Tokyo organizers said Monday the opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021 — almost exactly one year after the games were due to start.”The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games,” Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said. “This will only accelerate our progress.”Last week, the IOC and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Dr. Fauci Answers Trevor’s Questions About Coronavirus | The Daily Social Distancing Show (source: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah YouTube) March 26, 2020 – 13 minutes of no comedy, all facts with Trevor Noah and Dr. Anthony Fauci. “So people say arbitrarily. “Well, in two weeks, we’re going to be okay””. It depends on the kinetics of the outbreak. Right now, take New York City. They are getting hit really hard and the kinetics of the outbreak is going there. You can’t predict when it will make that turn around and start coming down. In general, if you look historically, at at countries that have been through the whole cycle, in China, it was about eight weeks or so before it went way up, and then way down in Korea, the same thing.” (summary by Christopher S. Penn)

  • Lunchtime Pandemic Reading – 2020.03.27 (Source: Christopher S. Penn) March 27, 2020 – SUBSCRIBE TO HIS NEWSLETTER! From today’s post, “Speaking of Florida, an outstanding visualization of where one group of beachgoers at Spring Break end up after Spring Break ends. Spoiler alert: everywhere.”

Source: https://twitter.com/TectonixGEO/status/1242628347034767361

Mardi Gras. Spring Break. Major conferences. These events, which should have been suspended when the outbreak became apparent in late January, have gotten us to where we are now.

  • O’Reilly Media shutters in-person events business (source: oreilly.com) March 24, 2020 – “Today, we’re sharing the news that we’ve made the very difficult decision to cancel all future O’Reilly in-person conferences and close down this portion of our business. Without understanding when this global health emergency may come to an end, we can’t plan for or execute on a business that will be forever changed as a result of this crisis. With large technology vendors moving their events completely on-line, we believe the stage is set for a new normal moving forward when it comes to in-person events”
  • Officials postpone the 2020 Olympics amid coronavirus pandemic (source: CNBC.com) March 24, 2020 – The International Olympic Committee postponed the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, officials announced Tuesday. The event was scheduled to start on July 24 in Tokyo.

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and the head of the IOC agreed to delay the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo for about a year. The games will take place “no later than summer 2021,” according to a statement from the IOC.

  • US coronavirus cases top 53,000, Universal Resort extends closure (source: NBC) March 24, 2020 – Universal Orlando Resort is extending its closure until April 19. After shutting down on March 16, the theme park originally planned to stay closed until the end of March. The Universal Orlando Resort Hotels have also temporarily suspended operations. “We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as needed, based on guidance from health agencies and government officials,” the resort said in a statement.

  • At least 8 states have issued stay-at-home orders (source: CNN) March 22, 2020 –The following states, in order of population, have issued stay-at-home orders:

    • California – 39.5 million – started Thursday
    • New York – 19.5 million – effective Sunday evening
    • Illinois – 12.7 million – started 5 p.m. Saturday
    • Ohio – 11.6 million – effective 11:59 p.m. Monday
    • New Jersey – 8.9 million – started 9 p.m. Saturday
    • Louisiana – 4.6 million – effective 5 p.m. Monday
    • Connecticut – 3.5 million – effective 8 p.m. Monday
    • Delaware – 967,171 – effective Tuesday 8 a.m.

    (Population numbers based on 2018 Census estimates)

  • A fresh wave of coronavirus job losses is about to come crashing down (source: CNN) March 22, 2020 – A picture of the economic devastation in North America and Europe has already started to emerge. A US government report published Thursday showed that 281,000 Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week — a sudden 33% jump over the week before and the largest percentage increase since 1992.

    This week is expected to be much worse. Goldman Sachs predicts that a shocking 2.25 million Americans will have filed for their first week of unemployment benefits. That would be eight times the number of people who filed last week and the highest level on record.
  • Much of global commerce has ground to a halt (source: The Economist) March 21, 2020 – “The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact around the world,” warned Fred Smith, boss of FedEx, at his firm’s earnings conference on March 17th. That is putting it mildly. The express-delivery giant announced that it was slashing its delivery capacity and, for the first time ever, refused to give earnings guidance. While economists debate whether this recession will be short-lived or sustained (see Briefing), bosses the world over already see mayhem. The virus has destroyed $23trn in global market value since mid-February.
  • Coronavirus: What could the West learn from Asia? (source: BBC) March 21, 2020 – […]But the later the measures are introduced, the more extreme they need to be to work. In Wuhan, China, where the virus is thought to have started, five million people had left the city before the shutdown began. This led to the government imposing the biggest quarantine in human history.

    Both Italy and Spain were forced to introduce national lockdowns after their case numbers rose to the thousands. New York and California have ordered residents to stay at home, except for essential trips like buying groceries.

  • China gets a glimpse of life on the other side of coronavirus (source: The Guardian) March 21, 2020 – For several days in a row, China has reported no new locally transmitted infections. Authorities are loosening restrictions and trying to crank back up the stalled economy, urging factories and businesses to resume operation.

    Some experts doubt the numbers officials have been reporting, noting inconsistencies in reports of what areas are deemed “low risk”. Others worry cases could spread again once normal life has resumed.

    “It is likely that cases will rise once China eases its control measures. This means they will have to maintain vigilance for a surge of new cases and decide how to respond,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in the US.

    On Wednesday, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, ordered officials at all levels of the government and Communist party to move with “urgency” in restoring economic and social order. In low-risk areas, production and normal life “must be fully restored,” he said, according to state broadcaster CCTV. […]

    Day-to-day life for people across China will remain stilted for some time. Office buildings, shopping malls and other public places still require people to be registered and their temperatures recorded. Several areas require people to show a “green” reading though a smartphone app called Health Code, through WeChat or Alipay. […]

  • Nonprofits And Coronavirus, COVID-1 (source: National Council Of Nonprofits) March 20, 2020 – The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, is creating an evolving situation with varied impacts around the world and across the states. We will be updating this page regularly with the latest information and resources that nonprofits can use to prepare and respond.

  • Confronting COVID-19: Why Firms Need to Tap Nonprofit Partnerships (source: Knowledge@Wharton) March 20, 2020 – Firms have an important role to play in the response to COVID-19, but they can’t do it alone. Instead, they should consider the unique ability of the nonprofit sector to serve hard-to-reach populations during disasters, writes Wharton management professor Aline Gatignon in this opinion piece.

“Solving this pandemic will require partnering with nonprofit organizations to make sure all of our communities around the world are getting the support they need.”

  • America’s coronavirus ‘curve’ may be at its most dangerous point (source: USA Today) March 19, 2020 – The U.S. will soon find out whether it’s likely to be the next South Korea or Italy or China when it comes to the new coronavirus crisis.

  • Coronavirus pandemic sparks calls to delay sale of .org domain (source: Reuters) March 17, 2020 – A decision on the sale of the .org internet domain to a private company should be postponed, rights groups said, warning it could impact charities grappling with coronavirus.

    NGOs opposing the takeover called for an extension of the March 20 deadline for the internet’s governing authority, ICANN, to decide whether to give it the go-ahead in light of the global disruption caused by the outbreak.

    “Organizations that disseminate accurate health information and connect affected communities with public resources depend on the .ORG domain,” Peter Micek, general counsel of digital rights group Access Now said in a statement.

    “Now is not the time to shift the ground beneath their online activities.”

  • Air traffic control tower at Chicago Midway International Airport is temporarily closed, FAA says (source: CNN) March 17, 2020 – The air traffic control tower at Chicago Midway International Airport has temporarily closed after several technicians at the facility tested positive for coronavirus, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.

    The federal agency said the closure is necessary “while we ensure a safe work environment for air traffic controllers and technicians.”

    “The airport remains open and operations will continue at a reduced rate until the situation is resolved,” the FAA said in a statement.

  • City asks New York state for use of Javits Center as ‘medical surge facility’ (source: Politico) March 17, 2020 – As New York City faces an exponential rise in coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm its hospital capacity, City Hall has asked New York state for permission to use its sprawling Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s far West Side as a “potential medical surge facility.”

    The de Blasio administration is still awaiting a response, said Omar Bourne, a spokesperson for New York City’s emergency management department.

  • Coronavirus pandemic puts countries on lockdown (source: CNN) March 17, 2020 – Italy now has more than 31,000 confirmed cases

    • Millions are under lockdown in Europe.
    • The US is working to send money directly to Americans in a bid to curb economic fallout.
    • 37 states in the US have closed their public schools.
    • The White House has advised people not to gather in groups of more than 10.
  • New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces (source: National Institutes of Health (NIH) March 17, 2020 – The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. The study information was widely shared during the past two weeks after the researchers placed the contents on a preprint server to quickly share their data with colleagues.
  • The world’s largest hotel chain is starting to furlough employees (source: CNN) March 17, 2020 – Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, has started furloughing employees.

    Tens of thousands of workers could be affected by the furloughs as demand dries up for travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    All levels of Marriott employees could be furloughed — from housekeepers to general managers. There won’t be job cuts on the corporate level yet. The company has also begun shutting down some of its managed hotels.

  • COVID-19 patient attended infectious disease conference at Ferris State GR facility (source: WZZM13 – Michigan) March 17, 2020 – A Kent County resident who recently tested positive for COVID-19 attended the Great Lakes Infectious Disease Conference at Ferris State University’s Grand Rapids campus on March 7.

    The conference took place at Ferris State’s College of Pharmacy facility at 25 Michigan St. NE

    The university said this is the first confirmed case of COVID-19 on one of its campuses. The school is working alongside the Kent County Health Department to response to the situation.

    As of Monday, March 16, there are five cases of COVID-19 in Kent County.

    Ferris State sent letters to the conference attendees recommending they self-isolate of self-monitor through March 21. This included about 10 faculty and 30 students who attended the conference.

  • As businesses close, a movie theater owner says ‘we are all in this together.’ (source: NY Times) March 17, 2020 – See you on the other side.

    Those were the words that Matthew Viragh was trying to spell on the marquee at the Nitehawk Prospect Park movie theater in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. It was a simple message, but it was taking longer than usual because every couple of minutes one of the theater’s employees stopped him to say, goodbye — for now.

  • Coronavirus Live Updates: Trump Says to Limit Gatherings to 10 People (source: NY Times) March 16, 2020 – President Trump announced new guidelines and European nations sealed their borders. Bay Area counties were expected to direct millions of residents to stay at home.

    The Trump administration on Monday released new guidelines for the public to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including closing schools and avoiding groups of more than 10 people, discretionary travel, bars, restaurants and food courts.

    Mr. Trump, flanked by task force members, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “This afternoon we’re announcing new guidelines for every American to follow over the next 15 days.”

  • CDC recommends no events of more than 50 people for next eight weeks (source: The Hill) March 15, 2020 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday called for the cancellation of in-person events of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

    The agency issued new guidance as governors across the country directed bars and restaurants to close down with the exception of carryout or delivery business. Arizona, Ohio and other states have shuttered schools for weeks to try to limit transmission of the virus.

    “Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene, and social distancing,” the CDC said. “When feasible, organizers could modify events to be virtual.”

  • Phones Could Track the Spread of Covid-19. Is It a Good Idea? (source: Wired) March 15, 2020 – [*Editor: Forget about GDPR…] China and South Korea used smartphone apps to monitor people with the disease. But Americans have different views of privacy and data collection.

    In 2011, two scientists at Cambridge University in the UK devised a clever way to measure and model the spread of the flu—an app called FluPhone that used Bluetooth and other wireless signals as a proxy for interactions between people, and asked users to report flu-like symptoms.

    If you’d had lunch with someone who later got sick, FluPhone would let you know. Besides slowing the spread of the flu, the app promised to help health authorities monitor and model the spread of influenza.

    FluApp made headlines and the front page of the BBC website at the time. But in the end fewer than 1 percent of people in Cambridge signed up to use it. “The health protection agencies could use it to populate anonymized map data,” which might help reduce transmission, Crowcroft says. He says an app would also help researchers learn “how long the virus survives on a surface, what fraction of the population are asymptomatic carriers, and where to target critical medical resources.”

  • José Andrés Is Turning His Restaurants Into Community Kitchens During Coronavirus Pandemic (source: DCist) March 15, 2020 – ThinkFoodGroup, the restaurant group founded by José Andrés, announced Sunday that it is closing all of its D.C.-area restaurants in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the restaurants will be converted into community kitchens, according to a release from the company, that will offer “affordable plates of the day” for takeout.

    Participating restaurants include Oyamel, Zaytinya, and three D.C.-area Jaleo locations. Andrés’ New York market Mercado will also operate a community kitchen. Restaurant employees will receive paid leave and health benefits “for at least the first two weeks,” according to a release.

    The chef and humanitarian’s fast-casual chain Beefsteak, meanwhile, remains in operation but with delivery only. The D.C. food truck Pepe will remain in operation as usual.

    “We are in a serious global emergency and people need to take every precaution, including staying home as much as possible,” Andrés said in the release. “However, we also want to help provide food for those who want it in a safe manner, so we feel these community kitchens can help during this challenging time. And those who cannot afford to pay we will welcome as well.”

  • How Broadway is Coping with Coronavirus Closures (source: Town and Country) March 13, 2020 – Eric Kuhn, a producer on Oklahoma! and The Inheritance, among other shows, also suggested online content would help mitigate the losses. “While being inside the theater is a magical experience that cannot be replaced, it is now the job of producers to keep the brands of their shows—and the brand of Broadway—alive online,” he told T&C. “Audiences still want to engage in the content and follow the shows and actors on social media. It is moments like these where we form a digital community. Because, then, when theaters reopen, audiences can come back more excited than ever before.” [Check out Association Chat’s previous interview with Eric Kuhn.]

  • Coronavirus updates live: Trump declares a national emergency (source: NBC) March 13, 2020 – President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, the most significant move yet by the U.S. government to head off the coronavirus outbreak.

    Trump’s declaration came as many public and private institutions have taken action — including canceling major events, temporarily banning large gatherings, closing schools and telling people to work from home — in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

    Wall Street appeared to rally on Friday’s opening bell, initially soaring around 1,200 points after economic fears over the coronavirus drove the markets to their worst day since the Black Monday crash in 1987.

    The United States as of Friday had surpassed 1,700 confirmed or presumptive cases of the coronavirus, and the death toll climbed to 41.

  • The 4 Key Reasons the U.S. Is So Behind on Coronavirus Testing (source: The Atlantic) – Bureaucracy, equipment shortages, an unwillingness to share, and failed leadership doomed the American response to COVID-19.

    The COVID-19 outbreak has been a confusing time for Americans, but one thing has been glaringly clear: The U.S. is way behind when it comes to testing people for the coronavirus.

    Despite the fact that last week, Vice President Mike Pence promised that “roughly 1.5 million tests” would soon be available, an ongoing Atlantic investigation can confirm only that 13,953 tests have been conducted nationally. New York, which has shut down Broadway and has at least 328 coronavirus cases, is still failing to test patients who have worrying symptoms. As late as March 6, a busy clinic in Brownsville, Texas, a border city of nearly 200,000 whose population crosses back and forth from Mexico frequently, told me they could only test three people. By comparison, South Korea, which has one of the largest outbreaks outside China, is testing nearly 20,000 people per day.

  • Wynn Resorts uses thermal cameras to screen guests, 100.4 degrees or higher asked to leave (source: USA Today) March 13, 2020 – In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Wynn Resorts is using thermal cameras to monitor the temperatures of guests.

    “We will be screening for temperature using non-invasive thermal cameras at all our entrances,” Wynn CEO Matt Maddox said in a statement about new company policies in response to the intensifying spread of COVID- 19.

    The USA TODAY Network asked the company how it will use temperature readings:

    “Any person registering a temperature of 100.4F or higher will be discreetly informed by a trained member of the security team and not be permitted to remain inside the resort,” a company statement said.

    Photo by Akwice from Pexels

  • Why canceling events makes sense in the age of COVID-19 (source: The Hill) March 13, 2020 – Governments, businesses and sports leagues are taking drastic steps to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 1,300 people across the United States.

    The measures, virtually unprecedented in the century since the Spanish flu that killed more than 50 million people around the globe, are aimed at reducing the transmission of the potentially life-threatening virus between those already infected and those who are at risk.

    Public health experts say the steps are necessary, even critical, to stop the spread of the virus. The difference between fast action now and further delays, they said, will determine whether the outbreak in the United States looks more like the one in South Korea, where COVID-19 case counts are coming under control, or more like the one in Italy, where the outbreak is already swamping the health care system.

  • [RESOURCE] COVID19 Tracker (source: The Atlantic) March 13, 2020 – The COVID Tracking Project collects information from 50 US states and the District of Columbia to provide the most comprehensive testing data we can collect for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. We attempt to include positive and negative resultspending tests, and total people tested for each state or district currently reporting that data.
  • Coronavirus live updates: NCAA Tournament canceled; PGA Tour cancels Players Championship (source: CBS Sports) March 13, 2020 – The rapid spread of the coronavirus is causing cancellations and postponements of sporting events around the globe. As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been at least 116,000 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to CBS News. While 64,000 people have recovered, more than 4,000 have died. In America, multiple states are under a state of emergency and some politicians and public health officials are recommending large gatherings of people — including sporting events — in coronavirus hotspots be canceled or closed to the public.

  • Will warmer weather help fight the coronavirus? Singapore and Australia suggest maybe not (source: CNN) March 12, 2020 – As the novel coronavirus began spreading around the world this year, one common refrain from skeptics of the emergency measures being put in place to stop the outbreak was that it was just like the flu — dangerous to sensitive groups but routine and not something to get into lockdown over.

    We now know that assessment is wrong. At its lowest estimated fatality rate based on current data, Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is thought to kill some 1-2% of known patients, compared to around 0.1% for winter influenza. The coronavirus also appears to be about as infectious as the flu, and potentially more so, especially as there are no specific treatment, cure or seasonal vaccine. […] But what if the virus does not behave like influenza? Could we be dealing with infection rates that remain high throughout the year? More than 100 cases have been confirmed in Singapore, where it’s hot and muggy pretty much year-round. Australia, Brazil and Argentina, all currently in the middle of summer, have also reported dozens of cases.
  • Walt Disney World closes, paralyzing the company’s tourism empire (source: CNN Business) March 12, 2020 – Disney’s tourism business has come to a halt because of the coronavirus.

    Disney (DIS) is closing Walt Disney World, its flagship theme park resort in Orlando, Florida, because of the global pandemic. The company also announced the closure of Disneyland Paris and the suspension of all new departures with the Disney Cruise Line. Earlier on Thursday the company said it was closing it’s iconic Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California. The virus, which has spread worldwide, has now shuttered the gates of all eleven Disney theme parks across North America, Europe and Asia.
  • Broadway to Go Dark, NYC Venues Shutter Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (source: The Hollywood Reporter) March 12, 2020 – New York Gov. Cuomo announced a mandate of no gatherings of 500 or more people as of Friday at 5 p.m., with the new guideline going into effect one day earlier for the Great White Way.

Photo by Dimitris.s12 from Pexels

On Thursday afternoon, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo shared new guidelines during a press conference, announcing a mandate of no gatherings of 500 people or more going into effect Friday at 5 p.m. local time. Exempt from that rule are schools, hospitals, mass transit and nursing homes.

For Broadway shows, however, the rule goes into effect 5 p.m. on Thursday, with all performances suspended through April 12. In order to qualify as official Broadway theaters, auditoriums must have a minimum 500 seats; they range from the Hayes Theatre, the smallest, with 500 seats, through the Gershwin, with 1,933. The monthlong shutdown will cause lost revenues conservatively estimated at $100 million

Disneyland Closes Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (source: Variety) March 12, 2020 – Disney has temporarily closed its California theme park because of the coronavirus outbreak. The move to shutter its parks comes as the novel virus continues to rapidly spread across the country. Over the past week it has officially become a pandemic, with cases increasing in the U.S., Asia and across Europe.

It’s only the fourth time in history that Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., has fully suspended operations. The other instances were Sept. 11 attacks, the morning after JFK’s assassination and the Northridge earthquake.

It’s unclear if Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., will remain open.

The United States isn’t better prepared.

Many health experts expect that a majority of people will eventually be exposed to, if not infected with, this virus. The total number of infected people isn’t what scares many epidemiologists. It’s how many are infected at the same time.

  • The show goes on(line): As events cancel due to COVID-19, Seattle startup builds a virtual platform (source: GeekWire) March 12, 2020 – On a typical day, Pathable, the Seattle-based company that normally produces mobile apps for conferences and events, might get three to five inquiries on its website from people interested in a demo. As the coronavirus outbreak hit, Jordan Schwartz, CEO of the 12-year-old company, saw the mass cancellation of events across the tech landscape and elsewhere as an existential threat to his business.

    Since the outbreak, the company has fielded more than 50 requests in just two days this week as it made a quick pivot to helping stage full-scale virtual events.

    ICANN converted its March event to virtual through Pathable and CompTIA has been using the company for hybrid events for some time, embedding broadcasts of their in-person event to remote participants.

  • Coronavirus: Italy deepens lockdown as COVID-19 spreads (source: NBC News) March 12, 2020 – The country’s financial capital Milan was a ghost town as residents woke up to an order to close all shops except supermarkets, food stores and pharmacies. In the city center that normally bustles with shoppers, a handful of people mingled at a street market that was operating with just one stand.

    But residents are still allowed to walk around and even go to work if necessary, albeit the government is urging a limit to most activity with police telling people to stand at least three feet apart to maintain the so-called “social distancing” to help stop the spread of the virus.

    Violators could face fines, even a few months in jail.

  • Get Ready To Live With COVID-19 (source: Forbes) March 12, 2020 – COVID-19 is uniquely dangerous three attributes make it hard to contain and also very dangerous: 1) it is easily transmitted, 2) there are many undetected disease carriers because symptoms are mild in ~80% of cases and they do not appear for up to 12 days, and 3) the mortality rate is high enough to do major damage. If 60% of U.S. population is infected and 1% of infected people die, total deaths in the U.S. would be about 2 million: 800 times the death toll on September 11, 2001.

    Photo by Roberto Nickson from Pexels

  • Why COVID-19 ‘death rates’ are not what they seem (source: Reuters) March 12, 2020 – “In an unfolding epidemic, it can be misleading to look at the naïve estimate of deaths so far divided by cases so far,” said Christl Donnelly, a disease specialist at Oxford University and Imperial College London. “This is due to the delay from the time it takes for individuals to progress from being diagnosed as cases to dying.”

  • President Trump: All Travel From Europe to United States Suspended for 30 Days (source: Variety) March 11, 2020 – The U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe to the United States for 30 days, in the latest dramatic response to the growing pandemic caused by the coronavirus outbreak. President Donald Trump announced the European travel restrictions in a somber address to the nation Wednesday night from the Oval Office. The travel restrictions do not include the U.K., Trump said.
  • Coronavirus infections in Qatar rise 1,000% in ONE DAY as cases go from 24 to 262 (source: DailyMail.com) March 11, 2020 – ‘Based on new lab results, we have identified 958 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the country, bringing the total number of cases to 9,000,’ health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference.

    ‘Unfortunately in the past 24 hours, we have had reports of 63 deaths and overall 354 have lost their lives’ to the virus, he added.

    The capital Tehran had the most new infections with 256 cases. [*Editor’s note: Qatar has a very warm climate. Theories about the coming higher spring and summer temps in the US killing out the virus might not hold much weight.]

  • NBA suspends season indefinitely over coronavirus pandemic (source: Los Angeles Times) March 11, 2020 – The NBA is suspending the 2019-20 season. The announcement came after a player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus.

    The league announced the decision, which will go into effect after Wednesday night’s games, after a bizarre scene in Oklahoma City, where a game between the Thunder and the Jazz was canceled seconds before tipoff.

  • Flattening the Coronavirus Curve (source: NY Times) March 11, 2020 – One chart explains why slowing the spread of the infection is nearly as important as stopping it.

“This is the first pandemic caused by coronavirus,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Eight countries — including the U.S. — are now each reporting more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19, caused by the virus that has infected more than 120,000 people worldwide.

One big reason for the extreme response: The coronavirus has overwhelmed the country’s health system, particularly in the north. More than 80 percent of the hospital beds in Lombardy, the hardest-hit province, are being occupied by coronavirus patients, according to BloombergIntensive care units are overloaded while elective surgeries have been canceled in the process to free up beds. Stories abound on social media about doctors struggling to meet their patients’ needs, even rationing care.

  • IMEX in Frankfurt 2020 cancellation (source: IMEX) March 11, 2020 – “We want to make it very clear that we have made this decision based purely on the facts as we know them today and, importantly for the whole IMEX team, based on the responsibility and genuine care we feel for all our clients and the global business events community.”

  • Academic Conferences Cancelled or Postponed due to COVID-19CESSE started a crowdsourced document to track STEM and scholarly society events that have been affected by coronavirus.

It tracks what the event was, where it was, when it was, and their event decision (canceled, postponed, relocated, etc.). It also includes a link to their announcement.

Great example of a community working together to provide a great resource!

“The availability of those reagents is obviously being looked at,” he said, referring to the chemicals used for preparing samples. “I’m confident of the actual test that we have, but as people begin to operationalize the test, they realize there’s other things they need to do the test.

  • How Speakers Can Work with Event Planners During COVID-19 (source: Association Chat) March 10, 2020 – With more than 500 cases in almost three dozen states, US officials worry that current containment efforts for the coronavirus aren’t enough, and many meetings and events are having to cancel, postpone, or create virtual and hybrid versions of their meetings. The attendees and sponsors are a concern for planners and along with them, caught in the middle, are AV teams, hospitality workers, and speakers. For this episode, I talked with professional keynote speaker Rachel Sheerin about how she has been working with planners to provide the best outcome no matter what happens.
  • It’s Official: Coachella & Stagecoach Have Been Rescheduled (source: Billboard) March 10, 2020 – With fears around the spreading coronavirus heating up, Goldenvoice has officially announced it will reschedule the 2020 Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.

    The new dates are Oct. 9-11 and Oct. 16-18, 2020 for Coachella, and Oct. 23-25 for Stagecoach. There is no word yet on whether the original festival lineups will remain in place.

  • How Biogen’s Strategy Meeting Spread Coronavirus in Massachusetts and Beyond (source: Wall Street Journal) March 10, 2020 – The spread of coronavirus infections from the meeting highlights the potential dangers in going ahead with the gatherings and conferences that are a staple of conducting business but which also threaten to amplify epidemics.

    “There’s a lot of handshaking, there’s a lot of being in close quarters, and that puts you at risk,” said Manish Trivedi, the director of the division of infectious diseases at AtlantiCare in New Jersey. “You eat something. You rub your eyes. You touch your face.”

  • AMA develops COVID-19 Resource Center (source: The American Medical Association) March 10, 2020 – Includes March 9th link to this EXCELLENT interview: JAMA Network presented a Q&A session with NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, and JAMA Editor Howard Bauchner, MD, to discuss the latest developments in the global spread of COVID-19.

– What’s the difference between COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2? (01:15)

– What’s the case-fatality rate for the virus? (05:31)

– Risk communication: how do we present information so there’s faith that it’s accurate? (15:24)

– Containment vs mitigation vs quarantine vs isolation (19:10)

– Will coronavirus wane in warmer months like influenza? (27:52)

– Why is anxiety so high about this disease?- Does the US have capacity to care for COVID19 infection? (31:03)

https://edhub.ama-assn.org/jn-learning/video-player/18296386

  • Cancel or Proceed? Here’s Some Help Making that Call (source: MeetingsNet) March 10, 2020 – Events on the books in the next month face the question of whether to cancel or proceed with the likelihood of reduced attendance. Here’s a process for reaching the decision. […]Dunn advises clients to chart both paths: on the one hand, canceling and on the other hand, going forward with reduced attendance. To see what each path looks like, she says, consider these two things:

1. What is the critical mass of individuals who need to attend for the objective of the meeting to be accomplished? For example, Dunn asks, “if 10 percent of your people can’t come, is that going to upset the delivery of what you’re doing—your educational content or your research delivery at your meeting? Probably not. But what about 20 percent, 30 percent, or greater?  It’s going to vary for every event.” Understanding that number is not only important from a business perspective, she says, but from a contract perspective and an insurance perspective.

2. When must you decide? Dunn suggests establishing a decision deadline. “Your team should come together and decide on a go/no-go date for any given meeting,” says Dunn, noting that you need to take into consideration when exhibitors will begin shipping materials.

The webinar, now available on-demand at the EIC website, covers force majeure clauses, cancellation policies, and more.

The real test will be whether the virus flares again when children return to classrooms and workers to factories, and commuters start taking buses and subways.

China’s blunt force strategy poses deeper questions for other countries. Its campaign has come at great cost to people’s livelihoods and personal liberties. Even countries that could copy China still have to ask whether the cure is worse than the disease.

The economy has ground to a near standstill, and many small businesses say they may soon run out of cash. Patients with critical illnesses are struggling to find timely care, and some have died. Hundreds of millions of people have been placed in some form of isolation. As of Friday, about 827,000 people remained under quarantine in Beijing, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper.

  • What to expect next with the coronavirus (source: Axios) March 8, 2020 – There are all kinds of scary scenarios that are more speculative, but we don’t need to go down that road — because there are already enough grim headlines and disruption in the changes we know are coming. Here’s what to expect in the coming weeks and months. 
  • How Taiwan Used Big Data, Transparency and a Central Command to Protect Its People from Coronavirus (source: Fsi.Stanford.Edu.) March 3, 2020 – “The Taiwan government established the National Health Command Center (NHCC) after SARS and it’s become part of a disaster management center that focuses on large-outbreak responses and acts as the operational command point for direct communications,” said Wang, a pediatrician and the director of the Center for Policy, Outcomes, and Prevention at Stanford. The NHCC also established the Central Epidemic Command Center, which was activated in early January.“And Taiwan rapidly produced and implemented a list of at least 124 action items in the past five weeks to protect public health,” Wang said. “The policies and actions go beyond border control because they recognized that that wasn’t enough.”Wang outlines the measures Taiwan took in the last six weeks in an article published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
  • Coronavirus Live Updates: Italy Locks Down Much of Its North as Europe’s Outbreak Worsens (source: NY Times) March 7, 2020 – Italy’s government is taking the extraordinary step of locking down entire sections of the country’s north, restricting movement for a quarter of the population in a sweeping effort to fight the coronavirus not seen outside of China.

    “We are facing an emergency, a national emergency,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in announcing the government decree in a news conference after 2 a.m.

    The move is tantamount to sacrificing the Italian economy in the short term to save it from the ravages of the virus in the long term. The measures will turn stretches of Italy’s wealthy north — including the economic and cultural capital of Milan and landmark tourist destinations such as Venice — into quarantined red zones until at least April 3. They will prevent the free movement of roughly 16 million people.

  • Attendee at CPAC, where Trump and Pence also made appearances, has tested positive for coronavirus(source: CNN) March 7, 2020 – The American Conservative Union announced on Saturday that one of the attendees at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, has tested positive for coronavirus.
  • NBA advises teams to prepare to play without fans due to coronavirus concerns (source: CNN) March 7, 2020 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) has asked teams to begin making contingency plans if they have to play games without anyone in attendance as concerns about the spread of coronavirus increase.

  • Stanford University Cancels On-Campus Classes as Faculty Member Tests Positive for Coronavirus (source: NBC Bay Area) March 7, 2020 – Stanford has canceled all in-person courses for the rest of the winter quarter (ends March 20). They will use virtual options, instead. To see Stanford tools that help to make telecommuting seamless for faculty and staff. Visit the WorkAnyWhere website.

  • A Message from Leaders of the Meetings and Events Industry (source: U.S. Travel Association) March 7, 2020 – “We stand in support of the message issued by the Meetings Mean Business Coalition that promotes the latest guidance and expert advice and urges the continuation of meeting and event travel.”

  • An open letter to the meetings industry from Meetings Mean Business (source: Meetings Mean Business) March 2, 2020 – Dear meeting and event professionals: At this time, no federal restrictions are in place to prevent travel within the United States. However, misinformation – in the news, on social media and among colleagues – has led to rising concerns and premature calls for meeting cancellations. As of now, anyone hosting or attending a meeting in the U.S. may proceed as planned, while continuing to consult information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local public health authorities. Of note: some companies and city leaders have announced internal travel restrictions, which vary on a case-by-case basis, and primarily involve international meetings
  • New CDC guidance says older adults should ‘stay at home as much as possible’ due to coronavirus (source: CNN) March 6, 2020 – The CDC guidance comes as two top infectious disease experts with ties to the federal government have advised people over 60 and those with underlying health problems to strongly consider avoiding activities that involve large crowds, such as traveling by airplane, going to movie theaters or concerts, attending family events, shopping at crowded malls, and going to religious services.

  • SXSW Cancels March Plans (source: SXSW) March 6, 2020 – City of Austin Cancels SXSW March EventsThe City of Austin has canceled the March dates for SXSW and SXSW EDU. SXSW will faithfully follow the City’s directions.We are devastated to share this news with you. “The show must go on” is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that “there’s no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make the community safer.” However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the City of Austin’s decision. We are committed to do our part to help protect our staff, attendees, and fellow Austinites.We are exploring options to reschedule the event and are working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU. For our registrants, clients, and participants we will be in touch as soon as possible and will publish an FAQ.

 

  • Coronavirus ‘is like a combination of SARS and AIDS’, doctors say (source: MetroUK) March 6, 2020 – Doctors in China have warned that coronavirus can cause ‘irreversible’ harm to patients’ lungs, even if they recover. The effects of Covid-19 on the human body ‘is like a combination of SARS and AIDS as it damages both the lungs and immune systems’, Peng Zhiyong told the Global Times. Dr Zhiyong, director of Zhongnan Hospital’s intensive care unit in outbreak epicentre Wuhan, made the comments after speaking to forensic specialist Liu Lang, whose team has reportedly carried out tests on nine patients who had died of the virus. He added: ‘Based on the results, I think the most important thing now is to take measures at an early stage of the disease to protect patients’ lungs from irreversible fibrosis.’My question: What percentage of those infected with coronavirus who recover will suffer from

 

  • How can you tell the difference between flu and Covid-19? (source: The Guardian) March 6, 2020 –  Doctors are still working to understand the full scope of symptoms and severity for Covid-19, but early studies of patients taken to hospital found nearly all of them developed a fever and dry cough, and many had fatigue and muscle aches. Pneumonia (lung infection) is common in coronavirus patients, even outside the most severe cases, and this can lead to breathing difficulties. A runny nose and sore throat are far less common, reported by just 5% of patients. The only real confirmation of having Covid-19 is taking a test though.
  • Chinese researchers detail chest CT findings in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia (EurekAlert! AAAS) March 3, 2020 – […]published ahead-of-print and open-access in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR)–determined that most patients with COVID-19 pneumonia have ground-glass opacities (GGO) (86.1%) or mixed GGO and consolidation (64.4%) and vascular enlargement in the lesion (71.3%)

  • Chest CTs of coronavirus patients reveal nature and extent of damage (source: Verdict Medical Devices) March 4, 2020 – Just because you survive, doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t lasting damage >> Chest CTs of coronavirus patients reveal nature and extent of damage – The scans determined that 86% of Covid-19 patients have ground-glass opacities (GGO)[…] Just over 70% of the patients were aged between 21 and 50, and 78% had fever as the onset symptom.Only five patients showed disease associated with a family outbreak. Emergency patients were older than the patients in the non-emergency group, but the rate of underlying disease was not significantly different between the two. This suggests that viral load could be a better reflection of the severity and extent of Covid-19 pneumonia.

  • Why Isn’t SXSW Canceled Yet? It May Come Down to Insurance and the City (source: Variety) March 5, 2020 – “I would think that it (SXSW) will likely get canceled,” says Adam Siegel, entertainment manager at American Agents & Brokers, Inc., an insurance company that has the Ultra Festival as a client. “But they’re still waiting to make that determination, because I’m sure that the city (of Austin) is speaking with the promoter and talking about what kind of preventative measures they would be able to offer, as Ultra (did with the city of Miami). I don’t know how you can really prevent that. You can have hand sanitizing stations based all over the place, but when people are that close, and we know they’re saying it could be in a drop of someone’s cough or a sneeze.“Coachella is still a little bit further out, and they’re certainly waiting to see what’s happening,” Siegel says. “But Ultra will really set the precedent, now that they see: ‘Okay, this is what happened here, so it makes sense to do it, because our situation is similar.’ It’s a matter of protecting people. They certainly don’t want to be the epicenter of an outbreak.”
  • Trump Calls for Calm on Virus and Expands Travel Restrictions (source: NY Times) March 6, 2020 – Vice President Mike Pence said the administration was issuing its highest-level warning, known as a “do not travel” warning, to areas of Italy and South Korea most affected by the virus.

    The United States is also barring all travel to Iran, and barring entry to any foreign citizen who has visited Iran in the last 14 days. There will also be screenings of travelers coming from Italy and South Korea.

  • The Most Drastic Anti-Coronavirus Travel Ban in the World (source: Slate) March 6, 2020 – In a globalized world, it’s hard to imagine many communities that could shut themselves off like Micronesia has—other than North Korea, that is. (North Korea claims it has registered no cases of COVID-19, despite sitting between the two most infected countries. Kim Jong-un has just sent South Korea a “get well soon.”) But this type of self-quarantine is not unprecedented. As the Guardian explored this week, one Colorado town managed to dodge the 1918 flu via a “de facto lockdown.” Gunnison, a farming and mining town with a population of about 1,300, enacted a “quarantine against all the world,” erecting barricades, closing schools and churches, banning public gatherings, and arresting violators, for four months—and it worked. This time around, Pacific islands are the ones with a “quarantine against all the world,” and they are doing everything they can to prevent COVID-19 getting in.

  • Tourism flows and death rates suggest covid-19 is being under-reported (source: The Economist) March 6, 2020 – In recent weeks covid-19, a deadly new disease, has slowed in China but spread widely elsewhere. China’s strict quarantine has led to a 90% decline in new infections, whereas outbreaks in Italy and Iran have grown rapidly. In the last week of February 70% of new diagnoses were outside of China. As covid-19 reaches countries unwilling or unable to monitor it, officials must use educated guesswork to track its evolution.

    “Tourism Flows And Death Rates Suggest Covid-19 Is Being Under-Reported”. 2020. The Economist. Accessed March 6 2020.

    South Korea and China test regularly. In both places—excluding Hubei, where the virus began claiming lives before authorities formulated a response—0.5-1% of people who have tested positive have died. In other countries with at least one death, this rate is five times higher. Deaths are easier to count than infections are. The most likely explanation for this gap is that for every person diagnosed in these countries, four more do not know they are infected.

  • Short time between serial COVID-19 cases may hinder containment (source: CIDRAP) March 6, 2020 – In the Japanese study, published yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, investigators calculated that the time from symptom onset in a primary COVID-19 patient to symptom onset in secondary patients, or the serial interval, was 4.0 to 4.6 days.

  • Here’s why Chinese scientists say there’s a second, more dangerous coronavirus strain (source: Los Angeles Times) March 6, 2020 – The global outbreak that has sickened nearly 100,000 people across six continents may actually be fueled by two variants of the same coronavirus: one older and less aggressive and a newer version whose mutations may have made it more contagious and more deadly, according to a controversial new study.

    The Chinese scientists reported their analysis Thursday in the journal National Science Review. The team was led by Peking University’s bioinformatics researcher Jian Lu in Beijing.

    The study authors acknowledged that their conclusions are very preliminary and are based on a very small sample of viruses. The variations they found will need to be observed in many more specimens taken from other patients, and their genetic differences will need to be compared with physicians’ reports and epidemiological notes. Only then can their suspicions can be confirmed, they wrote.

  • WHO warns governments ‘this is not a drill’ as coronavirus infections near 100,000 worldwide (source: CNN) March 6, 2020 – WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that although public health authorities across the globe have the ability to successfully combat the spread of the virus, the organization is concerned that in some countries the level of political commitment does not match the threat level.

    “This is not a drill. This is not the time to give up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops. Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades. Now is the time to act on those plans,” Tedros said. “This epidemic can be pushed back, but only with a collective, coordinated and comprehensive approach that engages the entire machinery of government.”

    […] All 126 new confirmed cases in Hubei province announced on Friday were from the city of Wuhan, according to the Hubei Health Commission. Seventeen new cases were announced outside the province on Friday by the NHC.

    *Question I have from this: With new cases still showing up daily in Wuhan, the city where it all started, how long will this be an issue as it grows across the United States? 

  • BBC News – Coronavirus: Ted conference to go virtual or be postponed (source: BBC) – The annual Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference will not go ahead as planned, amid growing concerns about coronavirus.Instead, attendees are being asked to vote on whether to postpone the Vancouver-based event until July or hold a virtual one.A decision will be made next week.
  • How horror movies can help us handle the Coronavirus. (source: When + How Agency) March 5, 2020 – 3 ways to navigate a crisis like an On-Scene Commander (OSC). These are great points for inciting trust (and not panic) in members, stakeholders, and attendees.
  • ‘When Can We Go to School?’ Nearly 300 Million Children Are Missing Class. (source: NY Times) March 5, 2020 – The global scale and speed of the educational disruption from the coronavirus epidemic is “unparalleled,” the United Nations said.

    Only a few weeks ago, China, where the outbreak began, was the only country to suspend classes. But the virus has spread so quickly that by Wednesday, 22 countries on three continents had announced school closures of varying degrees, leading the United Nations to warn that “the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled.”

    Students are now out of school in South Korea, Iran, Japan, France, Pakistan and elsewhere — some for only a few days, others for weeks on end. In India on Thursday, all public and private schools through the fifth grade were ordered closed through March in the capital, New Delhi, affecting more than two million children.

    Photo by Lucian Marin from FreeImages

  • Fred Hutchinson Implements Remote Work Policies During Coronavirus Outbreak (source: Biospace) March 5, 2020 – As Seattle and its outlying areas have become the front-lines of the coronavirus in the United States, with at least 10 deaths related to COVID-19 reported in the state of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has implemented a mandatory remote work policy.The new policy was announced Wednesday as part of the organization’s emergency management plans. The policy only impacts employees based in Seattle and does exclude some staff, including security and facilities management, the organization said. The mandatory work-from-home policy will remain in effect through March 31, but could be extended depending on circumstances. Fred Hutchison said the requirement follows a recommendation from King County Public Health that encouraged organizations in the greater Puget Sound region to have their employees work from home.
  • Japan’s coronavirus infection rate could be ‘tip of the iceberg’ as experts call for more testing (source: CNN) March 5, 2020 – […] as the outbreak casts a shadow over the economy and Tokyo’s preparations to host the Summer Olympics, Abe has stressed that the next couple of weeks will be crucial in the battle to contain its spread.

  • Coronavirus death rate is 3.4%, World Health Organization says, Trump says ‘hunch’ tells him that’s wrong (source: USA Today) March 5, 2020 – Asked about the WHO’s coronavirus fatality rate findings during an interview Wednesday, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity: “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number.” In the Hannity interview, Trump said that a “lot of people” have “very mild” cases of coronavirus, and don’t even see a doctor. They get better, he said, “by, you know, sitting around and even going to work.”

  • Big Companies Pull Out of Global Conference in Orlando Due to Coronavirus Concerns (source: Spectrum News/News13) March 4, 2020 –ORLANDO, Fla. — Some major companies are pulling out of a global conference scheduled to take place next Monday in Orlando because of the coronavirus.
    • Amazon, Intel and Salesforce are just a few pulling out
    • Conference organizer says virus fears are not stopping others
    • Visit Orlando president claims coronavirus is not impacting tourism
    • Get more coronavirus coverage here

    The Orange County Convention Center is known as a destination for some of the world’s largest conferences and gatherings, including the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, a global health tech convention set to begin in Orlando March 9 and not open to the public. [*editor’s note: since this posting, HIMSS has also canceled over public health concerns.]

  • Coronavirus Testing Available With a Doctor’s Approval, C.D.C. Says (source: NY Times) March 4, 2020 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday broadened the guidelines for coronavirus testing, allowing anyone who has symptoms like a fever, cough or difficulty breathing to receive a test if a doctor agrees.

    Doctors were encouraged to first rule out other causes of respiratory illness, like influenza, and to take into consideration whether there are other local coronavirus cases, officials said.

    Previous guidelines required a patient to have symptoms of respiratory illness as well as a clear route of exposure, such as recent travel to China or a number of other affected countries, contact with a known coronavirus patient, or hospitalization with a severe and unexplained respiratory illness.

  • Here’s a full list of all the gatherings that will no longer be going forward. >> Google Cancels I/O, Its Biggest Annual Event, Following Coronavirus Fears (source: buzzfeed) March 4, 2020 – Google says it will “explore other ways to evolve Google I/O” after Facebook canceled the “in-person” aspect of its F8 developer conference, and many more conferences canceled across the United States.

  • Will Warm Weather Slow Down the Coronavirus? Here’s What Experts Think (source: Health.com) March 3, 2020 – […] because SARS-CoV-2 is so new, there’s no way to say for sure whether the virus will experience the same seasonality as other viruses. “I hope it will show seasonality, but it’s hard to know,” Stuart Weston, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where the virus is being actively studied, explained to the magazine.

    Maciej F. Boni, an associate professor of biology at Penn State University also pointed out to the Philadelphia Inquirer that there is one major difference between the novel coronavirus and the flu: immunity. While many of us have built up an immunity to the flu, this isn’t the case with the new illness. Basically, SARS-CoV-2 is encountering a “completely susceptible” US population. “We’re not off the hook just because we’re getting to springtime and the warmer weather,” he explained.

  • Anyone can be tested for COVID-19, subject to a doctor’s orders: Pence (source: ABC News) – The Centers for Disease Control is issuing new guidance that anyone can be tested for COVID-19 with no restrictions, subject to a doctor’s orders, Vice President Mike Pence announced in a briefing with reporters Tuesday evening.

    The CDC’s previous guidance was limited to people who traveled to countries affected by the novel coronavirus outbreaks and came in contact with a diagnosed patient or showed severe symptoms. But Pence said several governors raised concerns that people with only mild symptoms wouldn’t be tested.

  • CT scans speed diagnosis of COVID-19 (source: healthline) March 3, 2020 – “Mount Sinai Health System physicians — the first experts in the country to analyze chest computed tomography (CT) scans of patients from China with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) — have identified specific patterns in the lungs as markers of the disease as it develops over the course of a week and a half,” Mount Sinai said in a statement.
  • Coronavirus Identified in Seattle Patient Six Days After Death (source: Newsweek) March 3, 2020 – Six days after a 54-year-old man died, officials confirmed that he tested positive for the new coronavirus and hospital staff may have been exposed to the virus.

  • WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 3 March 2020 (source: World Health Organization) – COVID-19 is not the same as influenza. “[…]COVID-19 causes more severe disease than seasonal influenza. While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity. That means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease.

Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.

[…]we have vaccines and therapeutics for seasonal flu, but at the moment there is no vaccine and no specific treatment for COVID-19. However, clinical trials of therapeutics are now being done, and more than 20 vaccines are in development.”

  • Covid-19 May Have You Working At Home (source: Wall Street Journal) March 3, 2020 – The usual flu-season advice applies: Wash your hands frequently, avoid handshakes, and try not to touch your face. Most important, stay home when you or someone in your household is sick. For home isolation and quarantine to work, employers need to be as understanding and flexible as possible. They can help by holding videoconferences instead of meetings and letting employees work from home. Some may consider alternative schedules or staggered shifts.

  • Analysis: One Sure Thing About COVID-19: No Telling How Many People Have It (source: Kaiser Health News) March 3, 2020 – Lipkin’s group is working on building a new test that distinguishes between different causes of viral pneumonias, with a researcher headed to China this week for testing.

  • Amazon tells all 798,000 employees to halt travel, in US and internationally, over coronavirus fears (source: Business Insider) February 28, 2020 – Amazon has instructed its 798,000 employees to avoid “non-essential travel” domestically and internationally because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, a spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. […] Earlier, The New York Times reported that Amazon had told its worldwide operations team not to arrange any meetings requiring travel until at least April, the report said.
  • CDC Announces Additional COVID-19 Presumptive Positive Cases (source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) February 29, 2020 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware of four new presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 announced by state public health authorities who are currently conducting investigations.
    • California has announced a second possible instance of community spread.
    • Oregon has announced its first possible instance of community spread.
    • The state of Washington has announced two presumptive cases. One is likely travel related. The other is the state’s first possible instance of community spread.

Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. One previous possible instance of community spread was announced in California on February 26.

 

 

Photo by Almighty Shilref from Pexels

  • Transcript for CDC Telebriefing: Update on COVID-19 (source: Centers for Disease Control and Protection) – Especially interesting to me from this audio update is how the CDC is choosing to report on the numbers of infected in the United States and the question about the current status of testing in the US from Julie Steenhuysen from Reuters. “…can you tell us how many states have testing capacity? We’re hearing that only three states at the moment are capable of testing for the coronavirus because of issues with the test kits.” The response? ” In terms of the test kits, you know what, I think we’ve been as transparent as one could be about this issue. I’m happy to report that we’re fully stood up at CDC. There is no lag time for testing at this point. That is the focus of testing in the United States, the testing here at CDC. We’ve had no issues at all in terms of the quality of that. As we’ve pushed tests out to the states, they did what we would expect as part of the normal procedures, which is do the verification in their own laboratories and there were problems identified with the test kits. That is a normal part, unfortunately, of these processes. We obviously would not want to use anything but the most perfect possible kits, since we’re making determinations about whether people have COVID-19 or not. So that is still where we are. We are working with FDA, who is the one that have oversight over us under this UA(?) on redoing some of the agents in these kits. We still consider it a priority to get the kits out to patients as soon as possible. It is overridden by the priority to make sure that the test is correct.” [BOLDED statements are mine, not the source’s.]

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite from Pexels

  • A Record-Breaking 105 US Children Have Died From Flu So Far This Season (source: KIMT News) – With communicable diseases hitting hard and fast, should we start looking at options for how to do more business and meetings from home? A terrible, widespread flu is keeping many Americans at home already. As the world focuses on coronavirus, a deadly flu has killed at least 10,000 Americans. So far this season,105 children have died from the flu, according to data released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the highest number of child flu deaths at this point in the season since the CDC started keeping records in 2004, except for the 2009 flu pandemic. “This is the first time in 25 years where [influenza B] became so common so early,” said Dr. Buddy Creech, an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

 

Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez from Pexels


Stellar Resources:

  • Coronavirus COVID-19 global cases (source: Johns Hopkins) – Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE

    Screen Shot 2020-02-22 at 1.59.49 PM

    Screen Shot 2020-02-28 at 9.01.54 AM

  • COVID-19: What You Need to Know (source: Infectious Diseases Society of America) – This page offers a wealth of legitimate, well-vetted information, including helpful posts from the CDC and the World Health Organization. IDSA’s purpose for the page is “keeping members and the public up to date on the latest  COVID-19 developments with this resource page providing links to guidance from government health authorities and the World Health Organization, journal articles and more.” Here is a recent interview they conducted about what is happening now and how to approach communications about COVID-19…


Have an interesting resource to share? Please comment below or email me at kiki (at) amplifiedgrowth (dot) net.

 

 

 

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