If Gen Con is cancelled I hope there is an option for those of us who can handle the strain and want to to not take a refund OR get system credit

Assuming that the Con moves forward, would any additional physical security precautions be taken? I've heard of some areas of China equipping door staff of crowded areas with thermal imaging hardware; it wouldn't help you find someone contagious but not symptomatic (I'm hearing a 48 hour window for that now), but it does allow the prompt detection and exclusion of people showing elevated temperatures. It's not firm evidence of COVID-19, but anyone trying to go into a crowd with a fever should be told to pound sand regardless of the cause. 

On a side note (i'm not sure it was here of someplace else) but we should avoid statements about the virus that do not come from the CDC or WHO.  Misinformation can be as much a danger as the virus.

People just want to discuss. I get it. It's fine as long as you're guessing about Gen Con and citing the CDC or Indiana happenings.

Don't want to close a thread like this. 

Our position has not changed. We have a show to plan...and Guilder to frame for it.

We will definitely let you know when we have something else to say.

Mike

As the person who appears to be the lone woman posting in this thread, I flat out refuse to be Buttercup. 

That booing you hear...that’s me. The old crone in the back.

Boo. Boo. Boo. 

Boo. Boo. Boo. 

I got an email today from GAMA, stating that origins will make a go/no go decision by May 1. As origins is in mid june, I think this is a reasonable decision. Origins going forward would be a good sign for Gencon. And as far as timing. I wouldn't expect Gencon to make a decision before Origins does.

Adding my two cents here like everyone else is, since we all have opinions and honestly no one knows any answers yet :)

GC is a little over 4 months from now, and a lot can change from now till then, either in good or bad ways.  This last week, the Asian countries have reported that lots of people are fully recovering from COVID-19, and that their number of cases is decreasing significantly.  It seems as if the virus is making its "wave" across the globe, obviously still impacting some areas much harder than others (i.e. Italy), but also starting to greatly diminish.  The US will probably be one of the last countries to fully recover just because it arrived here only recently compared to other countries.

GC's refunds page does list June 14 as the cutoff date for requesting refunds.  However, this pandemic is a very unique situation, and I would think that if the event was outright canceled, the powers-that-be at GC would either issues refunds or do something similar to help attendees (i.e. maybe giving 50% off on next years badge to those who already bought badges).

Yes, events are being canceled, but those are ones occurring currently or within the next month.  As others have said, organizations like MLB are simply postponing their season starts and have said they will begin spring training as planned.  I'm sure also that the Indiana/Indianapolis governments are keeping their eyes on GC since it is the 2nd largest annual gathering for Indy and involves/impacts a TON of the local businesses (hotels, restaurants, etc).  We'll just have to wait and see what happens, but in the meantime just assume that everything is a go.

I would want system credit because I will be going in 2021. 

As it stands, cases are doubling every 3 days. So we'll likely be over 20,000 cases by next week, and we have over 100 people dead who would otherwise be alive. This number is going to increase throughout March and April.

But yeah, conventions and social gatherings are the main concern this summer. If cases still abound, they absolutely cannot occur as literal lives are at stake.

I wouldn't believe any of the numbers from Wuhan or China. Italy is the country we should be watching and trusting at this point.
 

[This post has been removed]

[This post has been removed]

The reason people are watching Italy is because of how other countries with smaller fatalities either instituted social distancing protocols very early to flatten their curve and slow the spread of this, or have not, but are a few weeks behind Italy in terms of spread. People are looking at Italy because it is a clear example of what can go wrong if we don't get our stuff together. As for Germany, their numbers are tracking like Italy's from 2 weeks ago. The US as a nation is tracking 2 weeks to 16 days behind Italy. People are talking about Italy because the logarithmic growth of cases in this country closely matches their trajectory. Italy may not be nearly the outlier that you think.

Can you explain why you think it is ludicrous to think we may still be in lockdown in July or that it would be ludicrous that we should be? We haven't really put the country into lockdown yet. Different parts of the country are definitely restricting things, but the spring break pictures clearly demonstrate how not locked down we are. It took 53 days in Wuhan with really draconian social control in place. We don't have those controls as of now. Hopefully it's a few months at most, but it could be longer. So much depends on what we do as a nation, as states and as individuals.  So the hard fact is we don't know how long we need to keep things partially shut down. We won't know what we need to do because things will be evolving and shifting, but preparing for the worst is prudent. GenCon is taking the wait and see approach. That's what we're all doing.

We will have to resume our service oriented economy when it is safe to do so. Once again, it's the wait and see approach. And it stinks. It's going to cost people homes, life savings, and a bunch we probably haven't calculated accurately yet. That leads to larger questions than this thread can be about like at what point is the jump starting the economy more important than protecting people's lives, and what fiscal price as a society are we willing to pay to try to protect people.

GenCon is looking at all the information available to them and will evaluate as needed as things change. That's all we can ask of them, and it's all we can do.
 

I could see a situation where things are on a much better trend, but the Ohio govt would still prevent the convention. In which case, its possible the IN govt makes a different decision 30 to 45 days later, allowing Gencon. 

After all, it's still up to the govt. If they dont lift the ban, no convention could proceed, even if the organizers wanted it to.

If I were origins or gencon, and had convention cancellation insurance, which I hope they have, I'd want the govt to make the call for me. Then I could at least get the insurance $.

I would potentially be okay with my badge turning into credit for next year if I got to keep my hotel lottery position for ‘21!
I second buying a GenCon 2020 shirt if it gets shutdown. Better than shipping them all to a landfill.

Planet Comicon in Kansas City just announced new dates for August 14th to the 16th. Was supposed to have been this weekend. So people aren't writing August off yet it seems.