[sf-lug] Concerns surrounding next week's SCaLE 18x

[aaronco36 at sdf.org]

Concerns surrounding next week's SCaLE 18x

Quoting Steve M Bibayoff <bibayoff at gmail.com> from [01]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello,
I know this is not in the Bay area, but quite a few people come down for
this. Just letting everyone know that the early bird rate for the SoCal
Linux Expo (SCaLE) ends Jan 12.
More info: https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/18x
And registration: https://register.socallinuxexpo.org/reg6/
Please let anyone who may be interested know.
Hope to see you there. Thanks,
Steve
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Besides the main link for the 18th annual Southern California Linux Expo
event at [02], SCaLE 18x also has a recent and concerning blog entry
'Coronavirus and SCALE 18x Events' at [03].

Directly quoting from that blog entry [03]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Submitted by Phil Dibowitz on Thu, 2020-02-13 21:42

UPDATE (February 26, 2020): If you have been to any of the CDC
Warning-level countries[04] in the last 14 days, in accordance with US
policy, we ask you not to come to SCALE. If this affects you, please get
in touch with us so we may issue you a full refund.

We've been asked whether the Coronvirus outbreak will affect SCALE. Rest
assured, SCALE 18x will happen this year, on schedule!

We are keeping a close eye on both the development of Coronavirus news,
authority recommendations, and what other conferences are doing. Per CDC
guidelines[05], the risk to the American public is low, and the
recommendations are normal every day preventative actions such as washing
hands regularly.

At publishing time, there are only 15[06] cases in the US and all of them
are in quarantine. The authorities have not recommended closing schools,
malls, or other gathering places. As such we have no plans to cancel or
otherwise change plans for SCALE. We will, however, be providing hand
sanitzer at Registration and in each room for those who want them.

If you have any flu-like symptoms, we ask that you please stay home.
Otherwise if you are concerned about being vulnerable, you are welcome to
wear a mask[07].  Please wash your hands frequently. The CDC tells us
these are good practices whether or not there are any current outbreaks of
concern.

We can't wait to see you all in a few weeks! If you have any questions
please feel free to reach out to me.

Resources:

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Corona Virus portal [08]
* World Health Organization Coronavirus Myth Busters [09] and Daily
Situatio Reports [10]
* Johns Hopkins real-time dashboard [11]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, most if not _all_ of us are likely to be all too aware of the
media's comprehensive coverage of (obsession with?) the threat that
Coronavirus COVID-19 may become a more widespread pandemic, e.g., as
reported within our Bay Area's CBS-SF Coronavirus news portal at [12] and
the recent notice of Facebook's cancellation of the F8 developer
conference in San Jose due to coronavirus concerns [13], as unlucky Fate
would have it ;-|

Persons pondering on at least one other online forum whether or not to
cancel their SCaLE 18x reservations and travel plans are wondering what
other less voluntary measures SCaLE 18x organizers and/or regional SoCal
authorities might possibly enact above and beyond washing hands, using
sanitizer and [possibly] wearing a mask as per [07] to help prevent
potential transmission of Coronavirus COVID-19 among event participants ??
For example, just to name two that come to mind; (a) establishing
screenings of SCaLE 18x participants (e.g., visual scans by _people_
instead of by devices) to be directly carried out at or near the Pasadena
Convention Center's entrance(s) -- even carrying out such screenings on
event participants originating within or near epicenters _outside_ of the
specified CDC Warning-level countries[04] "in the last 14 days" and/or (b)
heightened and directed screenings at regional airports located throughout
the SoCal area of passengers originating from currently developing
Coronavirus COVID-19 epicenters[11] .

---

Would Steve B, Rick M, Michael P, Akkana P, other SCaLE 18x participants,
and/or others reading this w/o current plans of attending next week's big
SoCal Linux event wish to share  further news/notices, timely facts,
presumptions/assumptions, speculations/inklings, keen insights, relevant
thoughts, helpful advice ....etcetera regarding the above??

Thanks in advance,
-A

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REFERENCES
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[01]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q1/014496.html

[02]https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/18x

[03]https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/blog/coronavirus-and-scale-18x-events

[04]https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html

[05]https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html

[06]https://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus-2020.html

[07]https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks

[08]https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

[09]https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters

[10]https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports

[11]https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

[12]https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/category/coronavirus/

[13]https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2020/02/27/facebook-f8-conference-canceled-coronavirus-fb.html

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aaronco36 at sdf.org
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