[FOSDEM] Coronavirus

[Daniel Pocock]

On 30/01/2020 15:34, hostilius wrote:
> Hello Gerry,
> 
> thanks for your response.
> 
> Although there are no reported cases in Belgium yet, the general risk applies, some attendees traveling to Fosdem might have already caught the virus elsewhere, without knowing, without feeling unwell.
> 
> Currently the WHO is in a meeting, and will decide if it's necessary to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
> 
> An announcement is expected later today (Thursday), at 19:30 Brussels time, hopefully they will provide updated recommendations.
> 


I got some more information to share and please don't accuse me of
spreading fake news or contradictions because it is already obvious to
me that some of this is contradictory.

Different countries now have different attitudes to the virus.  Russia
is now discouraging public gatherings.  Just as FOSDEM celebrates 20
years of freedom, McDonald's in Moscow was about to celebrate 30 years
with free hamburgers.  Their party is cancelled on the basis that a
large public gathering is a health risk:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-russia-mcdonald-s-corp/russias-first-mcdonalds-scraps-30th-anniversary-giveaway-due-to-coronavirus-fears-idUKKBN1ZT2AA

In the WHO press briefing tonight, they didn't mention Russia but they
said countries who make restrictions on borders or trade need to make
decisions based on facts rather than fear.

The main points from the WHO:

- there is now an official international emergency

- but they explicitly don't recommend any prohibition on travel and
trade, in other words, they give FOSDEM organizers a clear GO!  Beer
night is GO!  They repeated this point several times.

The stats, from various sources: the risk of death (2%) is actually a
lot lower than SARS (10%), the bigger challenge is the rapid spread and
the fact that people spread the virus without showing symptoms.

Some doctors are giving medical notes to people who want to cancel
work-related travel, usually on the grounds that they don't want to use
airports.  If anybody doesn't trust the WHO, feel free to ask your
doctor for a medical note.

Some speakers commented they will only check the news and decide before
going to the airport (e.g. Friday 3pm) and if they cancel, devroom
managers won't have a lot of time to replace them.

Looking at FOSDEM demographics, a lot of speakers are frequent travelers
who use airports every week.  What are the chances that 1 in 5,000
people contracted the virus in an airport in the last 7 days?  Every
conference is unique.

FOSDEM visitors use every hotel in Brussels.  Even if just one hotel is
quarantined (like the cruise ship in Italy and hotels in NYC and UK
today), some of us will be impacted.  Many of these appear to be false
alarms but everybody still has to wait in quarantine for confirmation.

No Coronavirus there, but still a huge inconvenience.  Some people may
choose to stay away because of the risk that their hotel or aircraft
will be accidentally quarantined for a day rather than risk of the virus
itself.

Regards,

Daniel