Summer, Fall In-Person Events Won't Require Masks, Shots
As in-person events return this summer and fall (see 2103240003), organizers are opting for relatively light-touch COVID-19 health precautions such as spacing out lunch breaks or sessions to try to prevent larger gatherings of attendees, they told us in an unofficial survey of tech and telecom events. Some health experts said mandatory masks or required vaccinations for attendees will be the surest guarantee for safety.
But that's not a common approach events are taking, the survey found. The Sept. 1-3 CEDIA Expo at the Indianapolis Convention Center is an exception. Producers for now are sticking with mask mandates and temperature check requirements for all attendees, they said this month (see 2106020056). Producers said they expect about 10,000 attendees and 300 exhibitors at the in-person event.
After scrapping its spring Summit due to COVID-19, ProSource confirmed this month it plans an in-person summer conference at the La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio Aug. 2-6 (see 2106010031). The event will not have a mask mandate, emailed CEO David Workman Thursday. “There are no mask requirements in Texas and we will not be mandating any at our functions either.” There will be hand sanitizing stations in areas at the resort where ProSource is holding events, he said.
The buying group also won't require vaccinations, said Workman: “However we are asking those attending if they have been vaccinated. Our belief is that the vast majority of those attending will be vaccinated.” ProSource advises participants to “observe common sense protocols” but won't impose a social distance requirement, he said: “In general, we are following the guidelines of both the hotel and the state.”
Workman wouldn't speculate about how many ProSource dealer members will show up. He said there are “few if any travel restrictions from the companies we are doing business with at this point” that would prevent vendor executives from flying to San Antonio to attend. Because of the August meeting, ProSource won’t hold its traditional cocktail reception at CEDIA Expo in September, Workman said. The decision had mostly to do with the two events coming so close together, he said. "We have decided not to host a reception given other uncertainties surrounding the attendance for this year.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding large events and gatherings, in guidance last updated May 20. It recommends organizers do health checks such as temperature screenings and that all wear masks. The CDC urges staggered use of shared indoor spaces like dining halls and lounges. It said there's no evidence that handling food or eating is associated with spreading COVID-19, but “people sharing utensils and congregating around food service areas can pose a risk.”
Predicting a rise in COVID-19 cases where sizable portions of people aren't vaccinated, Annie Liu, Stanford University infectious diseases associate professor, said the growing number of people traveling and possibly attending conferences will carry those infections. She said the risk is even higher if the event involves international travelers, since most of the rest of the world hasn't had the vaccine access the U.S. has. Events should keep precautions that have been the norm throughout the pandemic: requiring masks and distancing, and avoiding having people share meals indoors, she said: If events require vaccination proof, safeguards could be loosened.
Mandatory masking or vaccinations have epidemiological value and reduce risk, but there also are social questions, said David Dowdy, Johns Hopkins University infectious disease epidemiologist. A vaccination mandate “is arguably challenging,” and masking “may put some attendees off,” he said, noting the lack of that requirement “will also put some people off.” Since outbreaks can be local, Dowdy said, it's worth taking more precautions if in the midst of even a small local outbreak. He said any events that can be outdoors will have much lower risk. “I wish there was an easy one-size fits all answer,” Dowdy said. For some events, he said, it may not be unduly challenging to force masking and social distancing and to cap room attendance, but that could be a bigger challenge for others.
The International Association of Exhibitions and Events says exhibition organizers and venues might want to promote social distancing and designate separate entrances and exits. It says they might want to look at plans for alleviating congestion at high-volume traffic areas like registration and restrooms. Masks “may be required of persons attending the exhibition,” IAEE said in April.
With the loosening of CDC guidelines, NAB softened some planned precautions for the Oct. 9-13 NAB Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Social distancing restrictions planned for the event were halved to 3 feet, and mask wearing will be optional for those vaccinated, said Chris Brown, executive vice president-conventions and business operations.
Las Vegas has no COVID-19 precautionary requirements, but Brown said keeping some restrictions in place is intended to put attendees at ease: “We don’t want people to be uncomfortable.” Brown said NAB doesn’t plan to require proof of vaccination or do temperature screening, but the situation is fluid. The reduced social distance requirement will allow for higher capacity, he said. Cleaning protocols will remain, as will plans for contactless badge pick-up, Brown said.
NAB Show registration has been open for a few weeks, and more than 6,000 have registered, Brown said. That’s ahead of the pace of sign-ups for last year’s canceled show, which would have been in April. Registration is “outpacing our initial projections,” he said. Brown said he has seen a high level of interest in the show, though he got questions from concerned attendees about whether restaurants and other businesses in Las Vegas will be open, and whether ride-share pricing will be prohibitively high. Brown said he’s not concerned: “If any city knows how to handle big crowds, it is Vegas.” CTA is committed to returning CES 2022 to the LVCC in early January but hasn't discussed health and safety protocols or format changes, saying the show is more than six months away.
Broadcast officials we asked uniformly said they're going. Riverfront Broadcasting Vice President Doyle Becker said he’s definitely attending, and has no reservations about COVID-19 precautions or traveling from South Dakota. “It should get back to normal,” Becker said. Broadcast engineer Tim Sawyer of T.Z. Sawyer Technical Consultants said it's important for him to see and be seen at the show. He said it's less about leads and conversations with clients and more about “reconnecting in person.”
ATSC decided to go ahead with an in-person conference Aug. 25-26 after Washington, D.C.'s relaxation of COVID-19 protocols, said President Madeleine Noland. The event will take its safety protocol lead from its venue, the Reagan Building, which currently requires visitors to wear masks. The event will be in a larger room than in past years to accommodate distancing, Noland said. She didn’t provide projected attendance but said response has been “very strong.”
Stanford's Liu said if unvaccinated, “I wouldn't even think of attending” an in-person conference, but would consider it “much more strongly” if vaccinated. Even a vaccinated person should “err on the side of masking in most situations,” because of the variants that could reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, she said: Being unvaccinated in a group setting can be done safely, “but the guidelines have to be pretty strict.”
Liu said masking should be required if organizers don't know the vaccination status of all attendees. In an indoor event, social distancing “is a distant, distant second” to consistent masking, she said. Liu said conference organizers should look at ways to facilitate or encourage vaccination by attendees before the event, such as links to resources and materials on the events' websites.
Johns Hopkins' Dowdy said some steps such as smaller meal gatherings make some sense since, when eating, people tend to be in the same place for longer periods without masks on, meaning higher transmission risk activity. He said having events outdoors or in open-air spaces “has more value than people think.” Conversely, vigorously repeated sanitizing of surfaces “has a little less value than people attribute to it,” since the virus is largely airborne.
“One of the big problems here is people tend to want to see this in black and white terms -- an event that is either fully restricted, you must be vaccinated, it must be outdoors, or fully open,” Dowdy said. “The right answer is probably neither of those, probably more nuanced and takes into consideration who the attendees are and where they are coming from.”