We are seeing some confusion from people about the details of our COVID policy. This update will hopefully clarify the situation.
Following the CDC guidelines, Arisia is requiring COVID vaccination including the bivalent booster (BB) for all attendees. However, there is a small population of people who have not received a BB and then got COVID in the last 2.5 months. Many of these people, particularly those with complex medical history, are being told by their doctors to wait to get the bivalent until 3 months after infection. This puts their first “safe” vaccination date after the Arisia BB deadline. Because this advice is so pervasive, individuals who contact Arisia's vaccination verification in this specific circumstance may be counted as verified if they are otherwise fully vaccinated and their positive test dates fall within 90 days of our deadline. These individuals are being asked to test daily during the convention. Arisia has a policy that forging proof of vaccination would constitute a Code of Conduct violation and could result in a permanent ban from Arisia. The same is true for lying about a recent infection in order to attend without a booster. We encourage anyone in this situation who becomes booster eligible in the time between the Arisia BB deadline and the con to go ahead and get their booster then. Partial effectiveness is better than zero.
Because of the risks of COVID, we are not relying solely on vaccination to manage COVID risk. Our second major tool is masks. Everyone must be masked. We strongly recommend N95, KN95, KF94 and FFP2. Surgical masks are permitted. Some people may choose to wear cloth masks over their surgical mask to get a better fit and that’s ok, but cloth alone is not sufficient.
Third in our arsenal is testing and isolation. We expect everyone to be testing themselves for COVID before coming to the convention, and staying home if they test positive. We also expect people who have known exposure to COVID, such as living with someone who has tested positive, to stay home. We expect people to be testing during the convention, daily if possible. We expect anyone who is experiencing symptoms that are abnormal for them to isolate and test. We expect anyone who tests positive during the convention to withdraw from participating in the convention, isolate (stay in your hotel room or return to your home) and report their positive test to our Safety team (@email).
Finally, we have our measures to manage air quality by providing additional air filtration and CO2 monitoring in crowded spaces.
With all of that, there is still a risk of contracting COVID-19 at Arisia. We have acknowledged this in our official COVID policy. Attending Arisia means you have agreed to assume that risk.
