[Coral-List] Request for the Reef Futures 2022 Conference

[Risk, Michael]

   Perhaps of relevance:

   This March, as we have done for years, we were making maple syrup. No,
   I won't send you any. I felt fine-a tad sketchy. I remember thinking
   "These sap pails are REALLY heavy this year!" but carried on. Someone
   suggested I take a test-bang, positive.

   I was testing negative within 10 days, and hence "recovered". But then.
   Three months of shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, headaches and
   something I described as the Grey Cloak of Doom. Some days, I couldn't
   function. Slowly getting better, but it will be a long haul.

   This is not about me, this is about you.

   I fell into an at-risk group, to coin a phrase, being older than anyone
   in the world except Gene Shinn. otoh, I was in wicked shape, healthy,
   etc.

   The data show that, of the people getting Covid, 30% of them will
   suffer Long Covid. Given present rates of infection, as Sarah points
   out, that means-all of you. (Sure, the fatality rate has gone down,
   largely thanks to vaccinations, but that isn't the real issue.)

   And now we have an in-person conference, of all things, in Florida, of
   all places (the poster child for fudging disease data), with no
   enforceable mandates, of all freakin willikers.

   You couldn't pay me to go.

   Mike
     __________________________________________________________________

   From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
   Sarah Frias-Torres via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
   Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2022 1:44 PM
   To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
   Subject: [Coral-List] Request for the Reef Futures 2022 Conference

   Posting this request here due to a lack of response from the conference
   organizing committee.
   I formally request to turn the in-person Reef Futures Conference
   (September 2022, Florida) into a virtual event only.
   COVID omicron BA.5 is now dominant in the USA and in Florida, with R0 =
   18.5.
   [1]https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/coronavirus/2022/07/15/covi
   d-cases-spiking-again-florida-4-000-cases-tallied-week/10014319002/
   For comparison, measles (Rubeola virus), the most contagious disease
   known to date has R0 = 18, meaning one infected person can infect 18
   people.
   Holding an in-person international scientific conference in Florida, in
   September, has the potential of becoming a super-spreader event,
   bringing pain, suffering, potential long-term disability, and even
   death to participants and their families, and all other people they
   make contact with.
   The conference site says they will follow CDC guidance, which basically
   means, no enforcement of any safety plan.
   A safe in-person conference should enforce mandatory vaccination, daily
   testing, masking, and air quality (ventilation, filtering,
   sterilization). However, with a variant so contagious, the safety
   protocol for in-person attendance should follow isolation hospital
   protocols, which is not a feasible way to conduct a scientific
   conference.
   Further, the lack of mask enforcement in most airlines and airports
   means that conference participants have a high probability of getting
   infected while in transit, and arriving at the conference venue already
   infected and actively spreading the virus.
   If the Coral Restoration Consortium is concerned about the safety of
   conference attendees, then the 2022 conference should be virtual.
   <><...<><...<><...
   Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
   Twitter: @GrouperDoc
   Science Blog: [2]https://grouperluna.com/
   Art Blog: [3]https://oceanbestiary.com/
   _______________________________________________
   Coral-List mailing list
   Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
   [4]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

References

   1. https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/coronavirus/2022/07/15/covid-cases-spiking-again-florida-4-000-cases-tallied-week/10014319002/
   2. https://grouperluna.com/
   3. https://oceanbestiary.com/
   4. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list