Just got an email from Origins: on or before May 1st will be their date to decide whether to cancel the con. Fingers crossed, also concerned if vendors will show up. The impact of lot of con cancellations in the spring could be a boon for summer cons if the Coronavirus threat subsides by May.
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Just got an email from Origins: on or before May 1st will be their date to decide whether to cancel the con. Fingers crossed, also concerned if vendors will show up. The impact of lot of con cancellations in the spring could be a boon for summer cons if the Coronavirus threat subsides by May.
This is going to come in cycles for the next 12-18 months. Restrictions will loosen up, then tighten, in an attempt to keep current infections down, but business flowing at some level. Until there's herd immunity through us all having had it, or a vaccine, conventions may be a thing of the past, or lucky timing for the few still willing to risk a large gathering. It may be hard to plan a large convention, when social-distancing periods are unpredictable.
This is assuming that immunity is possible... if you've been following that open question.
EDIT: On the plus side, I went from here to CNN and see "Mainland China on Thursday reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases for the first time since the the pandemic began late last year, marking a major turning point in the global battle to contain Covid-19."
So, hopefully large groups of us do start gaming again soon...
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The state of Pennsylvania just basically shut down, except for “essential, life saving services”
Among the businesses not included in the order to shut down:
• Grocery stores
• Gas stations
• Auto part stores
• Banks
• Health care
• Social assistance services
Restaurants can still offer take-out, delivery and drive through services.
Game stores and Comic book stores are screwed.
Customer Service & Community Manager
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Thanks for your patience. The Paizo execs continue to watch this developing situation closely. Lisa just posted the text of an email Paizo will be sending out here: Paizo Update on COVID-19 from Lisa. Here's the relevant part for PaizoCon:
Which brings us to PaizoCon. The safety of our attendees and staff is of paramount importance, and we are working closely with our host hotel and monitoring local, state, and federal government guidelines on a daily basis. The Washington State government is currently prohibiting gatherings of 50 or more people, though the timeframe does not yet approach the announced dates for PaizoCon (May 22–25). If the gathering ban or other concerns suggest that we should cancel or postpone PaizoCon, we will inform the community as soon as we can.
Paizo is continuing to monitor this developing situation.
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Customer Service & Community Manager
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I would like to note that how we refer to things like infectious diseases and pandemics does matter.
In my neighborhood and local social media groups, I've had folks who've had encounters of racism, in actions or in words, directed at them. It breaks my heart to hear from my neighbors how they feel unwelcome or unsafe in my local community, and to see reports from other areas of incidents as well: people.com "Racist Attacks Against Asians Continue to Rise as the Coronavirus Threat Grows"
I do not want folks from our own online community to come to paizo.com and experience something that makes them feel unwelcome or unsafe, or be reminded of the racism they may face in other areas of their lives. Paizo.com is supposed to be a place for our gaming community to come and connect and have fun or relax, we can help everyone get to enjoy a positive atmosphere by being conscientious of our language choices.
In 2015, the World Health Organization updated its guidelines for naming infection diseases: WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases.
This may seem like a trivial issue to some, but disease names really do matter to the people who are directly affected. We’ve seen certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, create unjustified barriers to travel, commerce and trade, and trigger needless slaughtering of food animals. This can have serious consequences for peoples’ lives and livelihoods.
While WHO indicates they are not currently applying this standard to established infectious diseases, we can still do our own personal best to change the tide on how these historical diseases are referred to by being mindful of the negative impact that inappropriate common names can have and making a conscious choice to refer to infectious diseases or pandemics, even historical ones, using their more scientific or technical names. For examples, the Spanish Flu can be referred to as the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and the Hong Kong Flu can be referred to as the 1968 Flu Pandemic.
Wasn't some asshat calling it the Kung Flu? >:(
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I've been shopping at the local Asian grocery store more than usual: I now head there first to buy what I can from my shopping list, and then go to the general grocery store. And I'm deliberately ordering more Chinese take-out than usual: Business at Asian-owned establishments is way down due to racism.
Dear Paizo:
Please have a look at this article. Best estimates are that the infection is going to peak in Washington in mid or late May. Of particular relevance: "New York City, Seattle, Boston and parts of California already have such large outbreaks that they will probably see significant growth even after taking extraordinary measures over the past week..."
With all due respect, at this point there is no realistic scenario under which going ahead with PaizoCon as planned would be remotely responsible. I urge you to do the right thing.
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Let them decide when they're going to decide, they're smart people.
Frankly, I don't see how pressuring them to decide now is a constructive use of your time.
Good luck and stay healthy!
Frankly, I don't see how pressuring them to decide now is a constructive use of your time.
I consider anything which may help Paizo come to the realization that going forward with the con -- at least in its current form -- would be grossly irresponsible as a very constructive use of my time.
We are in the midst of a global pandemic. Look at the data; there is no longer a reasonable question of what we a society need to do to curtail the spread of this virus, and thereby save lives. The only outstanding question is whether or not we will do it.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I'm sure they're considering options currently. I expect they will put together some sort of virtual replacement for PaizoCon this year. They probably don't want to announce anything until they've determined their plan, including how refunds for current tickets will work.
Airlines are allowing refunds for tickets, and I'm sure the hotels there will too. Give them some time.
Honestly, it's like with the Summer Olympics. Everybody knows it's gonna get cancelled, nobody dares say it aloud.
I agree...which is why I'm saying it.
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With all due respect, at this point there is no realistic scenario under which going ahead with PaizoCon as planned would be remotely responsible. I urge you to do the right thing.
I have no doubt whatsoever Paizo will do the right thing.
But that can be a complex, and time-consuming process.
They need to go over their contracts. They need to figure out if the current situation legally triggers various clauses. They need to talk to their partners, guests, vendors, people who make their living selling at cons. Not to discuss if this is the right move, but to discuss how to handle it.
If they want to move the date, they need to see if any dates far enough in the future to potentially be safe are open.
That all takes time. While neither they, nor anyone they call, is likely to be in their offices. This slows down the whole process.
No one is flying out to the Con two months early. They have time to get their ducks in a row.
So, having been a voice urging this cancellation, I feel that I must now say thank you. Thank you for putting public health and safety first. This can't have been an easy decision, but it was the right one.
Now if only certain other parties in positions of influence and/or authority would learn from your example...
Thank you for putting people first. Sucks, but I will be there next year ready to go!
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Customer Service & Community Manager
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I put a thread for the cancellation here: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42zqq?PaizoCon-2020-Cancelled.
I'll update it tomorrow with the full text after it's been vetted, and open that thread for comments at that point.
NGL, The last couple weeks have been pretty hectic and frenzied for me, and I deeply appreciate everyone's patience and kindness while we've been adapting to everything that's going on.
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Try to stay healthy, safe, and somewhat sane out there.
Be Very Glad you have the option of *working from home* if you do.
Please, for everyone, have mercy on your poor overworked/underpaid/underprotected sales clerks/cashiers/whatnot at the grocery stores you ABSOLUTELY MUST go to.
Call first to find out if they have essential supplies in stock or not.
Protect yourselves, protect THEM.
All it takes is one stockperson to go down with Corona and the store will close. Don't be selfish.
I'm sad that the con won't be happening this year, but this is entirely the right call.
Given Lisa's message, I'm inclined to let my badge and banquet ticket float on my account until PaizoCon 2021...
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#1 Assume 100,000 intensive care beds in the US.
(Currently it's less but)
#2 Assume 1% of infected need such a bed.
That gives that 10 million can be "allowed" to be infected at the same time (since 1% of that number equals #1)
#3 Assume a population of 320 million.
#4 Assume each patient needs two weeks of care.
This gives 32 "time periods" (#3 divided by #2).
The total period is 64 weeks (32 multiplied by #4).
Conclusion: to minimize elderly deaths, the US needs to be on lockdown for at least a year.
(This won't happen, since millions are uninsured and the virus doesn't ask for permission to infect more than 10 million at a time. Also on the plus side, "herd immunity" before 100% of the population has undergone infection. Also, on the minus side, nobody thinks you gain permanent immunity just for having Corona once)
So take the numbers with several truckloads of salt. But it gives you a rough perspective of what a global pandemic will do to our societies.
The thinking everything will go back to normal in 4-6 weeks is entirely divorced from reality. Its more likely we have one year of severe disruptions ahead, give or take.
Reading this post over fifteen months later, it held up pretty well.
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Try to stay healthy, safe, and somewhat sane out there.
Be Very Glad you have the option of *working from home* if you do.
Please, for everyone, have mercy on your poor overworked/underpaid/underprotected sales clerks/cashiers/whatnot at the grocery stores you ABSOLUTELY MUST go to.
Call first to find out if they have essential supplies in stock or not.
Protect yourselves, protect THEM.
All it takes is one stockperson to go down with Corona and the store will close. Don't be selfish.
They don't close the store the rest of us just have to work harder, I work as a grocery day stocker, I wish it was only one stock person out with covid at a time, last week we had the entire night crew come down with it, a few months back the store's entire management team all got it at the same time. any given day of the week we're lucky to only be down only down 3 to 5 people out with covid at the same time. we have been spit on, coughed on, and threatened with guns over masks or food outages. Was hoping to start playing PBP but at the end of the day I'm just too worn out to even try to put a character together or respond to a story creatively in character.
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They don't close the store the rest of us just have to work harder, I work as a grocery day stocker, I wish it was only one stock person out with covid at a time, last week we had the entire night crew come down with it, a few months back the store's entire management team all got it at the same time. any given day of the week we're lucky to only be down only down 3 to 5 people out with covid at the same time. we have been spit on, coughed on, and threatened with guns over masks or food outages. Was hoping to start playing PBP but at the end of the day I'm just too worn out to even try to put a character together or respond to a story creatively in character.
My original post was an idealistic not-burnt-out-ten-times-over wishful thought.
The reality has been much like you said.
I've been 'filling in' at 'scan person', 'order-writer', 'stock-person', 'inventory control person', 'receiving', and a dozen other different roles at my allegedly 'essential' gig for the past year now -- before that I was only doing about half of the above but more of it and the overtime it flowed freely.
We now get customers that come in hacking out half a lung that get upset if you try to run away from them to maintain distance (because ten feet is the minimum I've been going with if the customer doesn't have a mask, twenty if they're ill).
Management apparently all voluntarily had their reproductive equipment removed because none of them are willing to tell the customers to put something over their face (and haven't for a very long time -- the PROFIT$ are IMPORTANT!).
So we can't ask about vax status, we can't tell them to wear a mask, we can't even GIVE them masks to wear (we're out of stock of even the flimsy generic non N95's more often than not),.
I've been fighting something for the past week that's been gawdawful, and if the hospitals and clinics weren't log-jammed with a buncha folks what didn't get vax'd, I'd've gotten tested for the 'vid.
Now it's wait and see, and wait... and see... and if I feel like this tomorrow I'm going to bite the bullet, call in, and try to find a walk-in clinic to both get tested and get antibiotics.
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They don't close the store the rest of us just have to work harder, I work as a grocery day stocker, I wish it was only one stock person out with covid at a time, last week we had the entire night crew come down with it, a few months back the store's entire management team all got it at the same time. any given day of the week we're lucky to only be down only down 3 to 5 people out with covid at the same time. we have been spit on, coughed on, and threatened with guns over masks or food outages. Was hoping to start playing PBP but at the end of the day I'm just too worn out to even try to put a character together or respond to a story creatively in character.
My original post was an idealistic not-burnt-out-ten-times-over wishful thought.
The reality has been much like you said.
I've been 'filling in' at 'scan person', 'order-writer', 'stock-person', 'inventory control person', 'receiving', and a dozen other different roles at my allegedly 'essential' gig for the past year now -- before that I was only doing about half of the above but more of it and the overtime it flowed freely.
We now get customers that come in hacking out half a lung that get upset if you try to run away from them to maintain distance (because ten feet is the minimum I've been going with if the customer doesn't have a mask, twenty if they're ill).
Management apparently all voluntarily had their reproductive equipment removed because none of them are willing to tell the customers to put something over their face (and haven't for a very long time -- the PROFIT$ are IMPORTANT!).
So we can't ask about vax status, we can't tell them to wear a mask, we can't even GIVE them masks to wear (we're out of stock of even the flimsy generic non N95's more often than not),.
I've been fighting something for the past week that's been gawdawful, and if the hospitals and clinics weren't log-jammed with a buncha folks what didn't get vax'd, I'd've gotten tested for the 'vid.
Now it's wait and see, and...
I went to the walk-in clinic today for a leg injury that's not healing, got there before they opened to beat the lines, the Drs were on time but couldn't see anyone for all most an hour because all the support staff called out sick, and the Drs didn't know how to check people in...
It's nice to know someone else gets how bad it gets at work.
Hope you start feeling better soon.