Given that we will conclude the conference with a dinner, at which masking will be very unlikely, it is particularly important that we do our very best during the preceding conference days to keep from infecting one another.
We have managed to move the conference dinner from the university venue (which had no outdoor option or windows we could open) to an off-campus location that will have one large garage-sized door open. There is also informal seating outdoors for anyone who finds the space too close and wishes to take their plate outside and sit at a casual coffee table. The venue is next to a wonderful wine bar with a large outdoor space, so once our dinner has concluded, those who wish to stay and celebrate longer can visit YORK’s wine bar next door outdoors. So we’ve done our best to provide the safest venue with options to suit your comfort levels.
MASK: Given the high transmission rate of COVID in Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County (albeit with declining hospitalizations and deaths) and given the large number of participants in higher-risk age groups, we will require all participants to bring KN 95 or KN 94 quality masks to the conference and wear the masks in the conference spaces unless you are speaking. The blue medical masks and cloth masks will not suffice. We cannot be responsible for providing masks for the 70+ participants, so this is your responsibility.
TESTING: Moreover, we ask that you adhere to an honor system — in honor of Geoff and all of us — of bringing along your own rapid antigen tests and testing every morning before you leave your lodging for the conference. We emphasize that anyone testing positive or showing symptoms and still testing negative (as is frequently the case with the BA-5 variant) needs to stay home. We are working on providing a Webinar format so you can at least listen to the proceedings from your location, but we cannot provide a fully hybrid option allowing you to participate in the discussion remotely.
We ask you to participate in this honor system by which we all work to keep each other safe and prevent this incredible conference from becoming a super-spreader event. We trust that a bit of cooperation from everyone will go a very long way to assuring the safest possible conditions in a time of an ongoing pandemic. Even if one is fully vaccinated, breakthrough infections are not fun, especially when traveling. Hence our call for extra vigilance.
IN CASE YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS AND NEED A PCR TEST YOU CAN FIND A TESTING CENTER HERE:
https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/contain-covid/test
TO PURCHASE RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS IN ANN ARBOR:
(It would be best to bring them from home)
Walgreens: 317 S State St, Ann Arbor
CVS: 209 S State St, Ann Arbor
CONTACT TRACING AND SCREENING
Before entering any U of M building, we are required to do a self-screening you can do this here on this website by using guest screening:
https://umich.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3PminsH4aZnBWER
More convenient would be to download the app onto your smartphone either from apple or google and here as well use the guest screening function.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/responsiblue/id1525772741
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.umich.ResponsiBLUE
GENERAL INFORMATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COVID INFO SITE:
https://www.uofmhealth.org/covid-19-updates
Please read this very insightful Twitter thread, “Some helpful pointers from the virus itself, ” highlighting how even very insightful and smart friends and colleagues seek to carve out exceptions for their own comportment regarding masking and testing. Dan Berger on Twitter“Some helpful pointers, straight from the virus itself!”