"Gen Con and Covid" Topic

While there are no "official" reports, unofficial self affirmations from individuals that attended Gen Con and posted on a GC oriented FB page show that despite Gen Con's policies and mandates at least 40+ people came down with Covid as a result of attending Gen Con.
Now whether this was at the Con itself or one of the off-sites that didn't have the restrictions (such as hotels, bars, etc), isn't known.
So some of the questions being asked but will probably never have an answer for simply because it's an "I don't know."…

1: How many people total got Covid as a result of Gen Con?

2: Will those that DID report it, be enough to reflect a continuation of the policies of Gen Con that they enacted for the 2022 show or will there be a change for 2023?

Discussion estimates are that for every 1 that reported it on the site, there could possibly be 3-4 that came down with it that didn't report it, or isn't known. So if that is true, at the least you are looking at 120-160 positives, (possibly and perhaps more)…

Out of how many attendees? 50,000? 60,000?

Confirmed unique attendance at just a hair over 50,000. I attended all four days—vaccination requirement plus masks required everywhere but inside hotel spaces (which was odd because people did not wear masks in the hotel lobbies, but then had to put them on to enter ballrooms to game).

Most conventions this year had to set their vax/mask policies well in advance, and at the beginning of the year people were far more nervous about the omicron surge than it panned out to be. I would think these policies will be relaxed significantly for next season.

And consider the terror which is stealth covid: you only know you have it because someone tests you and tells you so. That seems to be getting more and more common, and is only useful to the "people tested positive!!!" crowd.

Would that more human afflictions were insensible to the afflicted.

I don't know. Probably a similar number got the flu or bad colds. Doesn't seem like much of an issue if 40 people got covid out of 50,000. Covid is not going away people are going to get it.

Acceptable casualties?

Without good numbers, how are you going to know if that is just the general level of Covid that is in the population? Or if, by having the precautions that they had, they might have reduced the effect of possible infections? TBH you would probably have had to planned the stats you needed before the Con, and done a proper survey before and after.

People get sick and sometimes die from the regular old flu… I don't recall mass vaccination and masking requirements for the flu. LIFE is full of risks… you weigh them and decide if it's acceptable for you or not. Surrendering your liberties for security will get you neither. (Where have I heard that before??)

+1 Mr. Magoo

Covid is not the seasonal flu.

I have covid now and it felt just like my seasonal allergies and head cold I get every year for the last 30 years. It wasn't until my wife was really coughing and tested that I tested, again, since the first said no and the second said yes. I doubt most places will be able to know if their policies are effective unless they do what advocate said.

The currently prevalent version is nowhere near as virulent as the original version. At the moment it is just like flu. As long as no new, more lethal variant arises there is no great problem. But I would guess (from a position of relative ignorance) that that is no more likely than a more lethal flu variant suddenly occurring.

This is not your grandfather's COVID. Both my wife and I had it in the spring and it was no worse then a bad cold.

I believe current medical thinking is that it is here to stay in this form and we all will get it sooner or later (like good old Joe and his wife).

As a side note, if you have not had it yet you may start to feel like a high school grad from the class of 1940 who has yet to see service by 1945!

Do people really care who has COVID any more?

Little Elmo was house sitting and told us "I think I got COVID" while we were traveling. Mrs Elmo and I never got sick and Little Elmo wouldn't get tested: he is of the "I hate Liberals, FJB" unvaccinated mindset anyway. He did report being stuffy, feeling generally crappy and having no taste or smell.

COVID-19 is airborne and has a diameter of 180 microns.
Masks do absolutely nothing to protect the wearer from becoming infected, and they only prevent an infected person from projecting the virus onto you via a cough or sneeze… but they don't block the virus he breathes out.
And the CDC has finally changed their guidelines to reflect the reality.

Also, the vaccine isn't to prevent infection or spread; it's failed on that point. What it does do is weaken the symptoms, allowing an infected individual to better fight off the disease and recover without requiring hospitalization. Which is all that's really needed, in the end.

Oh, I'm sorry, YogiBearMinis. Did you say something? I wasn't paying attention…to you.

CDC has finally changed their guidelines to reflect the reality

I like the one where they removed the distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Those that got fired during the hysteria should Sue to get their jobs back.

I'm over it, it almost killed me 18 months ago, past the point of caring to be honest.

Sue to get their jobs back.

There is one in the works but it relates to ignoring the religious exemption out of hand so not a "green light" for suits but I don't doubt that's far off.

Back on topic: For the people who put on cons, is there any sense of "covid is here to stay and just the way it is" when it comes to booking venues or do you get a sense that hosts are still ready to shut it all down keeping a weather eye on covid numbers (saw one ticker on local news but not the daily stats like 1 year ago)?

"cOVID-19 is airborne and has a diameter of 180 microns.
Masks do absolutely nothing to protect the wearer from becoming infected, and they only prevent an infected person from projecting the virus onto you via a cough or sneeze… but they don't block the virus he breathes out.
And the CDC has finally changed their guidelines to reflect the reality.

Also, the vaccine isn't to prevent infection or spread; it's failed on that point. What it does is weaken the symptoms, allowing an infected individual to better fight off the disease and recover without requiring hospitalization. Which is all that's really needed, in the end."

Agree with Parzival, except would add that I have personal experiences with vaccinated friends dying from Covid, and also being seriously ill as well, so I don't buy that it even helps with keeping you from getting severe. I know unvaccinated who have suffered nothing when infected any worse than a mild cold and some unvaccinated who died or were severe. It seemed to have more to do with age, being over weight and out of shape and having illnesses like type 2 diabetes or heart disease. So, that would cover a lot of us in the miniatures community today.

I also have relatives and acquaintances who have had side effects from the vaccines, some severe. Before anyone asks, yes confirmed by doctor.

I am fully vaccinated, but by my choice. I am Seriously questioning any new shots though.

I also gave up believing in masks. As in the studies I have seen, only a personally fitted M95 really has any hope of being of any real value.

If one wants to wear one and it makes them feel safer, that's there choice. But I would be against forcing masks or vaccinations to get into anything anymore. Even the currently most vaccinated and protected in our country have caught it more than once.

Fortunately for all of us, 35th OVI and Mr. Elmo included, anecdotal evidence does not inform public health policy. Everyone has their personal stories but they usually come at the expense of context. In other words the logical fallacy of hasty generalization. It ignores the stats on the doses given vs. the amount of side effects, just as the seasonal flu misconceptions do. 1 million plus US deaths and 6 mil worldwide in two years is far from seasonal flu.

The fact is that the virus mutated to a more transmissible but less lethal version fortunately for all of us tired of restrictions. When viewed in this context the changing stance of the CDC makes more sense and is really not some nefarious plot to take away your rights.

Lastly on that issue I will leave you with the seminal Supreme Court case on mandatory vaccination, "Jacobson v Massachusetts" which has a good outline of a state's power to regulate for the health and welfare or common good over individual rights. It is worth a read:

supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/197/11link

I am not sure that anything is out of context.
1) we were told by our President that the vaccine would keep us from contracting the virus, (it does not, the President and his wife have proven that on multiple occasions, as have countless others).
2) we were told again by the same person that it was a "pandemic of the unvaccinated." (It is not, again not only proven by the two of them, but by countless others).
3) Mask wearing does very little to stop you from catching the virus or spreading it. The M95 is the best, but it needs to be fitted properly. You can't be fingering it constantly, (and who doesn't?). How many times do your hands go to your face when you handle figures? How often do you move it up and down to drink? Who is Sanitizing all the figures you touch at tournaments? Dice you use? Do you touch door handles? Flush toilets? Who handled that food you were eating? The list becomes nearly endless. How many mask wearing high profile politicians and actors have you seen coming down with the virus? Once? Twice? Thrice?
4) that leaves "Well it may keep you from getting it bad." Ok, let's say that is actually true. So if you are fully vaccinated and boosted, what does it matter if Joe Blow at the tournament isn't? You are safe from serious side effects. Joe may die, but that's his fault right?

Everything else I said was from actual personal experiences.

I have nothing in this game. I don't attend these tournaments. I am vaxed and boosted up to this point. But it was fully my choice. I do not believe anyone should be forced anymore, nor should it be required to attend something.

Are you ready to start testing for Monkey Pox? I mean you can catch it by bodily fluids.

"Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, including: Direct contact with monkeypox rash, scabs, or body fluids from a person with monkeypox. Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox.Jul 29, 2022"

I refuse to live in fear of either.

Seriously go out to read the studies out there on all of this. I would use a search engine outside of Google.

link

Most masks were never intended to filter out the virus particles, only the water droplets that carry them. Similarly the vaccinations mean that your body responds to a first infection as if it were a second infection. There were never any guarantees.

There are currently far fewer people in hospital with COVID than previously, however those who are in intensive care are often unvaccinated,to the extent that the unvaccinated are 10 – 100 times more likely to end up in intensive care than the vaccinated.

Personally I wore a mask in all public places while asked. I got the latest form of COVID almost immediately after stopping wearing a mask. Fortunately it was mild.

Being from the UK, I am reluctant to comment on US presidents, but what is best ? One who exaggerates in an attempt to save lives, or one who shrugs his shoulders and says you'll survive if you're strong like me, while deliberately exposing his staff, bodyguards and public to his own infection ?

PS to avoid monkey pox, don't sleep with any
infected monkeys!!!

I can provide the quotes for the Presidents statements if anyone really wants them. I can find the studies for most of the others. I can provide Antidotal evidence.

But, as I said I don't have a horse in this race. If you want to force those attending the games to show vaccination papers and wear masks and they are willing to do that, fine. I don't go to them, so it does not matter. Enjoy.

My Bottom line; if wearing a mask and getting the boosters make "you" feel better and safer. By all means do it. Just stop forcing others to get the vaccinations or lose their jobs, especially our US military. We cannot afford the loss of employees and trained military personnel.

Take that same attitude about Monkey Pox and then use that same attitude with Covid. 🙂 🙊🙈🙉

Being from the UK, I am reluctant to comment on US presidents, but what is best ? One who exaggerates in an attempt to save lives, or one who shrugs his shoulders and says you'll survive if you're strong like me, while deliberately exposing his staff, bodyguards and public to his own infection ?

Well, yes, the former president exaggerated the potential of the masks, a temporary lockdown, and the vaccine being developed, but then so did the director of the CDC at the time who was advising the president on what to do— a director who is now so fully discredited in his claims (and may have been responsible for funding the virus's artificial development in the first place) that he's been forced to announce his retirement. And yes, the current President has repeatedly exposed staff, bodyguards and the public to the virus, including a recent incident where, after having contracting COVID multiple times, he coughed into his right hand]/i] and then shook hands with everybody around him at a public event.

So, yes, being from the UK you are misinformed about both Presidents. But that's to be expected, as the US media can't tell the truth about any President, including long deceased ones. And that's true whether they like him or don't like him.

+1 Dagwood. Are the monkeys staying off the hook-up apps?

+1 Machinehead, Folks need to understand Murdoch and Koch really want.