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

[aaronco36]

Quoting Rick M from [1]:
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If I were attending, I would take the exact same precautions I already do 
at this time of year on account of this being the height of flu season. 
E.g.:  Thoroughly wash hands at pretty much every opportunity, _train your 
hands to not touch your face_, try to avoid touching stair bannisters, 
doorknobs, and similar surfaces, and don't eat from buffet self-serving 
lines.  (Use alcohol-based hand-sanitisers wherever available between 
hand-washings.)

Oh, and for heaven's sake, if you haven't yet gotten the seasonal flu 
shot, do that right away.
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Rick M's excellent suggestions here both for all of you SCaLE 18x 
attendees and for we _non_ attendees seem to reflect the recent updates to 
the 'COVID-19 and SCALE 18x' blog entry [2].
Quoting from [2]:
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UPDATE (March 2, 2020): SCALE has been working with the Pasadena 
Convention Center to ensure the health and safety of everyone at SCALE! In 
addition to previous updates, PCC will doing the following:
    1. Providing fully equipped hand-washing stations in restrooms 
throughout the facility and hand-sanitizer wipes at all food and beverage 
locations.
    2. Routinely clean and disinfect all frequently touched surfaces, such 
as doorknobs, banisters, and countertops.
    3. Continue to follow all public health regulations at food concession 
stands and hosted catering food services.
    4. Offer pre-packaged food containers and food covers at all food 
services.

This is in addition to the the previously mentioned hand sanitizer SCALE 
will provide and invidually wrapped utensils PCC will provide.

We will continue to follow up and do everything to ensure a safe and 
health experience for all of our attendees, sponsors, and speakers!

UPDATE (February, 29, 2020): We continue to work with the venue follow 
local and nation health news. The Pasadena Convention Center has agreed to 
individually wrap all food items, provide hand sanitizer by all food 
stations, and individually wrap all utensils. We've also added a link to 
the Pasadena Health Department's relevant pages under "Resources" below.
..
..
Resources: [[addition]]
* Pasadena Health Department Coronavirus Page[3]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The number of confirmed U.S. cases the above SCaLE 18x blog entry [2] 
previously reported as 15 has changed just a bit.
Quoting and partially reformatting chart from the CDC's 'Coronavirus 
Disease 2019 (COVID-19)' site [4] as of Tue 2020-03-03:
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People Under Investigation (PUI) in the United States*
----------------Confirmed---Presumptive Positive**---Total
Confirmed & Presumptive Positive
a) Travel-related     12                      5       17
b) Person-to
-person spread         4                     22       26
c) Total cases        16                     27       43

* These data represent cases detected and tested in the United States 
through U.S. public health surveillance systems since January 21, 2020. It 
does not include people who returned to the U.S. via State 
Department-chartered flights
** A presumptive positive case has tested positive by a public health 
laboratory and is pending confirmatory testing at CDC. States are 
reporting presumptive positive cases independently; their case counts are 
the most up-to-date.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the CDC writes that "States are reporting presumptive positive cases 
independently", the State of California's Dept of Public Health [5] as 
well as other state and county agencies -- the LA County Dept of Public 
Health's Coronavirus portal at [6] -- are thus likely to revise their 
numbers in the upcoming days and weeks ahead as further COVID-19 cases 
should arise.

-A


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REFERENCES
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[1]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q1/014581.html
[2]https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/blog/coronavirus-and-scale-18x-events
[3]https://www.cityofpasadena.net/public-health/news-announcements/local-information-and-guidance-for-novel-coronavirus/
[4]https://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus-2020.html
[5]https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR20-009.aspx
[6]http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/
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aaronco36 at sdf.org
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