www.eventmarketer.com: Face masks are out, hand-washing is in, and managing attendee fear is paramount. Welcome to events in the age of the coronavirus (Covid-19). With the rapidly evolving virus taking hold of the industry, we compiled tips from two doctors serving the event industry, as well as information on what major venues across the globe are doing to handle the crisis, to help you better communicate and plan amidst the current outbreak.
4 comments:
I think a lot of the things that are mentioned in this article are some helpful things even when there isn’t a virus or health crisis going around. It’s always good to communicate regularly about anything that’s going on during events because there are many other things that could arise besides outbreaks. In a lot of places with public bathrooms, there are already signs that state the necessity for washing hands and being clean. I do agree that in this heightened state of the virus that additional reminders may be beneficial. Social Distancing isn’t something that’s common when nothing is going on, but can be helpful to keep things from spreading. Though being a fairly isolated person this policy for the most part isn’t really changing much. The kinds of masks people have been wearing are the kind that people use to keep from breathing on patients and whatnot, so considering that and the nature of how the virus can spread, it doesn’t surprise me that they’re not that effective. Temperature screening for events seems a little over the top though. Reducing stress is usually good regardless of what you’re doing.
I found this article relatively interesting, however, non of this is very new or ingenious. Most of these things are things, as Ari said above, that should absolutely be done after or before all events. This is particularly important when talking about disinfecting the venue. While it may be more important to be done when worried about a particular illness, any time you have a large group of people together, this is something that should be done. All it takes is for one person to be sick and touch something that a lot of people touch to get other people sick. Event producers and production companies should always be looking to keep venues of large event clean before, during and after the event. Another great point that is made that people do not seem to understand is that masks don't help. Surgical masks are mean to contain what is coming out of your mouth not protect you from other germs and N-95 masks are particulate masks, not masks that can stop viruses from entering.
“Face masks are out, hand-washing is in”. Huh? When did wearing a face mask to prevent disease (which the article states is not as helpful as you would think) ever take precedence over washing your hands? If anything, it merely accompanies it. Viruses can live on our hands, which is one of the ways it is transferred, so it is clear that washing your hands would help prevent it. Global epidemic aside, though, I believe that washing your hands should always be center stage. It is just really gross if you do not wash your hands regularly, and the fact that this advice is now a trending thing in the media is a little sad. It is something that should always be done. Also, this is a little off topic, but if the masks really are not effective in preventing the spread of disease, then I am curious as to how people connected to the medical field, both care-givers and patients, are reacting to their own safety measures. In other words, what power do these masks have in hospitals if they are basically powerless on the sidewalk?
"A lot of this seems pretty basic, but it is not being implemented at very many venues, and maybe it should be. Adding thermal scanners would be pretty costly for most places, but some of the other measures might be worth it. Signage never hurt anybody, and it would be generally beneficial for employees to be trained for emergency situations, and to have emergency equipment on hand. For places that already invest in metal detectors and security, it might not be that big of a deal.
There's a lot of misinformation out there about N95 respirators. N95 is the Niosh rating for Not Oil Resistant, filters 95 per cent of harmful particles from the air. While this might protect you if someone sneezes directly on you by blocking the droplets with the virus, it isnt going to save you from any virus floating around in the air during a clean-up scenario. That risk is relatively low anyway, but purchasing an N95 rated respirator is pointless. Many standard surgical masks are rated N95. If you're truly trying to find a foolproof mask (probably not worth it), you should be investing in an NBC or CBRN mask with Niosh P100 filters.
There's an interesting dichotomy here that adding more scanning and screening technology increases public health and safety but decreases privacy. It would probably be important to make sure that you're not selling any data from these scanners. "
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