[FOSDEM] Coronavirus

[Daniel Pocock]

On 29/01/2020 14:21, Gerry Demaret wrote:
> On 1/27/20 5:51 PM, hostilius wrote:
>> Fosdem brings together people from many places all over the world,
>> which is awesome. But the timing of this year's Fosdem is unfortunate.
>>
>> I suggest to discuss the potential effect of the Coronavirus (2019nCov)
>> on Fosdem, and potential measures.
> 
> Dear submitter, dear FOSDEM visitors,
> 
> Thank you for voicing your concerns.
> 
> There is currently no indication that there is a need for concern about
> 2019-nCoV spreading to attendees at the conference. The Belgian
> authorities are closely monitoring the situation, and are prepared to
> react quickly should a suspected case pop up:
> 
> <https://www.belgium.be/en/news/2020/coronavirus_outbreak_current_status>
> 
> We suggest our visitors follow the standard recommendations published by
> the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce exposure to and
> transmission of a range of illnesses:
> 
> <https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public>
> 
> As always, any participant feeling unwell (regardless of 2019-nCoV)
> should reconsider their attendance in person.
> 

The WHO advice says to avoid contact with people who exhibit symptoms

This press report, based on two papers published in The Lancet, suggests
that people can transmit the virus /before/ they exhibit symptoms

https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/24/coronavirus-infections-no-symptoms-lancet-studies/

If those reports are true, FOSDEM's legendary beer night and packed
corridors at ULB appear to be a higher risk environment than a normal
workplace.

The recent case of human-human transmissions in Germany:
- worker came from China to Germany with no symptoms
- Chinese worker gave training, still no symptoms
- Chinese worker returned to China, started feeling sick on flight
- 4 German workers confirmed with infection

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-germany-infections-idUSKBN1ZR2O1

Given the evidence above and also the massive gaps in evidence, this is
a serious ethical issue for the organizers and each participant to
contemplate.

There are some serious administrative questions, for example, if people
have already booked non-refundable flights and they decide not to
attend, will Free Software organizations still reimburse their tickets?
 It would be good to see all the organizations who give sponsorship
giving their volunteers a free choice in this matter.

For those who are devroom organizers, do we make an extra effort to
offer RTC participation for speakers who choose not to attend?  To avoid
going off-topic, we could discuss that on a thread on the FreeRTC list
https://lists.freertc.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
and try to develop a list of last-minute RTC options for any event in
the same situation.

Regards,

Daniel