Large Conventions Deemed High Risk on Delta Variant

Large indoor industry conventions will be high-risk situations if the ongoing rise of the delta variant of COVID-19 continues, said infectious disease doctors in interviews. Further complicating matters, they said it's unclear what the landscape of variants and vaccinations will be by October's NAB Show and Incompas Show.

Despite those concerns, all company and prospective attendee interviewed said they're moving forward with plans to attend. And unlike last year when the pandemic was newer to the U.S., these indoor gatherings aren't being canceled this year. Attendees instead said they're vaccinated and will take precautions. Most of the upcoming events are occurring in places where masks aren't required for those who are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

NAB Show is Oct. 9-13 and Incompas Show is Oct. 25-27, both in Las Vegas, where masks are encouraged but not required. The Technology Policy Institute Aspen Forum in Aspen, Colorado, is Aug. 15-17, the ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference is Aug. 25-26 in Washington; they tend to draw in the hundreds of attendees, while NAB Show in a normal year would have about 100,000. APCO 2021 is Aug. 15-18 in San Antonio. Only Washington among the host cities now requires face coverings be worn at indoor gatherings.

Event organizers and participants expect sizable attendance relative to past years, albeit with precautions of the pandemic age. TPI requires masks be worn inside, more than Colorado requires and exceeding what many other telecom, tech and media gatherings mandate. ATSC by dint of its location will also have masked participants. “I expect we will all be using a lot of hand sanitizer and doing fist bumps as greetings rather than hand-shaking,” emailed broadcaster and NAB Radio Board member David Hoxeng. “Nobody has dropped out,” said TPI President Scott Wallsten. “In-person attendance looks pretty much the same as it was in past years.”

Physicians are concerned. Large numbers of people in an enclosed space such as the Las Vegas Convention Center (which hosts NAB's annual and biggest show) “is a fairly high-risk situation” with the extremely contagious delta variant, said Perry Wilson of the Yale School of Medicine. “Anyone who is immunocompromised, or living with someone who is unvaccinated or immunocompromised wants to take a pass on something like this,” said University of Virginia's Patrick Jackson. IDWeek 2021, a Sept. 29-Oct. 3 convention for infectious disease physicians, is entirely virtual, Jackson noted.

The unvaccinated are at particular risk in such settings, and that number of people mingling increases the likelihood of a breakthrough infection, said Wilson. “It’s a numbers game. The more shots on goal the virus has, the risk goes up,” Wilson said. “All those little conference rooms ...”

Precautions

Some experts said taking precautions will help, not eliminate, the risks event goers will face.

Social distancing and mask requirements provide “marginal” benefit, Jackson said. “In practice, people wear masks inconsistently.” Organizations requiring mask-wearing for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated will be more effective, said Brian Labus, a public health assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. When indoor mask-wearing recommendations were limited to unvaccinated only, mask-wearing inside was essentially zero, Labus said. We observed the same at the NARUC gathering in Denver a few weeks ago.

Industry conventions we surveyed all responded to recently tightened Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines by recommending masks for everyone. Nevada state health officials and the Southern Nevada Health District -- which covers Clark County, where Las Vegas is located -- have done the same, “due to the increase in COVID-19 cases and the slowing vaccination rates in Clark County,” the district says.

Incompas Show’s venue, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, requires employees and guests to wear masks indoors. Face shields will be provided to guests with a “confirmed medical condition” that doesn't allow them to wear a mask. NAB Show’s health page recommends masks inside and says the event will follow local guidelines. An NAB spokesperson said the show hasn’t firmed up mask guidelines because the show is two months out, and the event will follow local rules.

The ATSC conference will follow Washington guidelines and policies of the venue, the Reagan Building. The city's mask mandate shouldn't be a big deterrent to professional event attendance, said Elliott Ferguson, Destination DC president. “People get it,” he told us, saying those looking at work-related travel “will be willing and understanding for the need for safety.” He said if COVID-19 variants weren't a growing concern, the mask requirement might not be as well-received. The big test of convention traffic in Washington will come this weekend, with Otakon, a gathering of Japanese pop culture aficionados at the Washington Convention Center, and then at fall Convention Center events, he said.

Aspen

One annual event in Aspen, which was canceled in 2020 like many other gatherings in telecom, tech and media, requires extra safety steps.

Unlike the other events, the TPI Aspen Forum -- which expects close to 150 attendees -- is requiring in-person attendees to be vaccinated. Industry conventions are in a good position to make such requirements because they're privately operated and usually require admission, said Yale's Wilson. TPI Monday committed to “hold as much of the event outdoors as possible,” add “HEPA air filters to smaller spaces” and “hold indoor events in large enough spaces to properly socially distance.”

NAB doesn’t have such an inoculation requirement but previously said it's under consideration. “The health and safety of NAB Show attendees and exhibitors remain our top priority,” emailed an NAB spokesperson. “We continue to follow all health and safety protocols as outlined by the CDC and will adjust our approach as needed.”

The CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker rates Clark County as having “high” transmission rates, the most severe rating available. U.Va.'s Jackson said for a large gathering such as NAB Show, the number of attendees from all over likely means the local transmission rate isn’t significant. Pitkin County, which includes Aspen, is also rated high, as is San Antonio's county, Bexar. The District of Columbia is rated one step lower, “substantial.”

Plans Unchanged

Industry officials expecting to attend largely don’t expect to change their plans. “We still plan to go to NAB,” said Joel Davis, general manager at WRAL-TV Raleigh. WRAL will have employees quarantine after travel until they test negative for COVID-19, he said.

“We’re still planning to support the show, we’ll be there in force,” said Sinclair President-Broadcast Rob Weisbord. “Our plans are still to send those who were supposed to go” to NAB Show, emailed Neuhoff Communications President Beth Neuhoff. Cromwell Group CEO Bayard Walters said he’s still planning to attend the convention, and the association should consider having vaccination stations there.

Most of the industry officials interviewed said they will follow requirements of the host localities, and that’s how they're handling delta variant in their workplaces. “We let our guard down for a minute,” said Walters, but with the rise in delta, his company is again being more cautious. WRAL has a hybrid work from home and in the office strategy, Davis said. “We are practicing 6-foot distancing indoors,” said Hoxeng. “We changed last Wednesday’s all-hands, monthly staff meeting from in-person luncheon to Zoom.” Sinclair follows local rules across its many properties, said Weisbord. “We follow the CDC guidelines, but they’re superseded by the state or city guidelines,” he said. “We stress the safety of employees.”

Come the fall conventions, Jackson “would expect continued variants.” He compared the current concern over delta to the popular view of the virus a month or so ago, which was more optimistic: “We’ve seen multiple waves of pandemic, we don’t have a good grasp of what makes those waves occur.”

Editor's note: This is part of our ongoing coverage of the pandemic and its effects on telecom and associated sectors. Our July 21 article on NARUC is here. Our July 20 article on courts returning to regular operations is here and another on virtual oral arguments is here. Surveys of convention plans are here and here. Our latest update on virtual congressional hearings is here. An update on the FCC's eventual physical reopening is here. For our calendar of events, see https://communicationsdaily.com/calendar.