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   Valerie Aurora (vaurora@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 00:39:12 JST Valerie Aurora

   I'm already disabled with symptoms that are very similar to Long COVID (my hEDS includes POTS, MCAS, and CFS). I wouldn't wish this on any other person, and I don't want to get worse. I'm used to being the weirdo in the room, but the next person to be disabled by COVID is blithely chatting over a conference-provided lunch indoors.

   • Embed this notice
     Valerie Aurora (vaurora@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 00:42:35 JST Valerie Aurora

     in reply to

     The Public Health Pledge is very flexible. It just asks you to, as organizer, announce some COVID related policies far enough in advance that people can decide whether to attend based on them, and then promise not to weaken the policies going forward. This includes actually enforcing them at the event. We can all agree that bait-and-switch is not a good look for an event people have made unrefundable travel plans for in advance.

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     Valerie Aurora (vaurora@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 00:46:02 JST Valerie Aurora

     in reply to

     Finally, do you want people to associate your brand with getting sick for a week, missing their travel plans, or in the worst but not uncommon case, disability or death? It doesn't take that much work to reduce the probability and severity of COVID transmission. The people who will be angry about it are probably not positive contributors to your event anyway. I'm going to bet they aren't following your code of conduct, based on Al Capone Theory.

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     Valerie Aurora (vaurora@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 00:48:04 JST Valerie Aurora

     in reply to

     • The Public Health Pledge

     Anyway, I signed the @phpledge and I encourage you to do so too. Please ask the organizers of any event you want to attend to take a look at it. Sometimes a mitigation is as simple as opening the doors and windows. You can have a Corsi-Rosenthal box competition. Have a mask decorating table. Have fun! Don't disable your attendees!

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     Uilebheist 🏳️‍🌈 (uilebheist@chaos.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 02:22:36 JST Uilebheist 🏳️‍🌈

     in reply to

     • The Public Health Pledge

     @vaurora @phpledge That about a mask decorating table makes me think of a news item I read in 2020... let me find it (yes, my brain works in mysterious ways, so I read mask-decorating and think music-enhancing).

     https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-hungary-concert-masks-idINKBN2652QA

     If a mask can both help protecting from COVID *and* help listening to music better, surely there could be something similar for an in-person conference... hear the speaker better! protect people!