[Qgis-psc] What about postpone the meeting (and LTR release) due to Corona Virus?

Thu Mar 5 00:38:05 PST 2020

Hi all, 

What Raymond suggest, sounds good to me. 

I am not sure we really need a PSC meeting on this topic - what more can
we discuss, what the local team didn't already consider? I suggest to
trust the local organizing team to do the right thing. And seems like
they discussed this issue already and we should be in good hands there. 

Disclaimer: any government issued meeting cancellations or travel bans
would of course be honoured. 

Greetings, 

Andreas 

On 2020-03-05 09:20, Raymond Nijssen wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Thanks for your email, Luigi. I understand your concerns and of course we have been discussing "Corona" in the organizing committee as well.
> 
> Our plan is to take measurements, like having disinfection and soap available, and printed how-to-cough-and-wash-hands advises on the walls.
> 
> This morning I contacted the Red Cross to ask for their advise since we are in their building.
> 
> Practical considerations
> 
> 1. Since I am not a doctor I cannot really decide on what to do. So I need to rely on other's opinions and rules. (I did contact a friend who is a doctor to ask for her opinion.)
> 
> Postponing is not easy!
> - What would be the situation a month from now? Or 2? Or 3?
> - Would people who just lost their ticket and/or hotel money book new tickets for the postponed meeting and maybe loose their money again?
> - The Red Cross building is not available the next months, so we would need to find another venue.
> - We would loose some (minor) non-refundable costs
> 
> So I think postponing would end up in cancellation.
> 
> My idea is to just let the HF happen as planned as long as the government does not forbid it. And as we are only a group of 50 people I cannot imagine they will. (Cause so many companies have over 50 employees. Would they all be closed?)
> 
> People can decide for themselves whether they want to go or not, right?
> 
> I'm available all day for an ad-hoc PSC meeting.
> 
> Kind regards,
> Raymond
> 
> Terglobo
> Fahrenheitstraat 1
> 5223 BJ 's-Hertogenbosch
> The Netherlands
> +31 (0) 6 25 31 49 83
> 
> On 05-03-2020 08:31, Andreas Neumann wrote: 
> 
>> Hi Luigi, Dear PSC colleagues,
>> 
>> I think with such decisions we should listen to the recommendations of the local governments where the meeting takes place. Raymond, as the local organizer should investigate with the local government if they are ok with the meeting taking place. As long as they are fine with the meeting, I think we should also be fine. Of course, the normal recommended precautions issued by them should be taken into account. And also each individual participant has a responsibility - if they had contact with a person known to have the virus, they should probably not participate at the meeting.
>> 
>> I would assume that many if not most participants already booked their train tickets and hotels. As for myself, I also booked a non-refundable rate, as this is cheaper. Without the local government issuing a meeting ban, I think we wouldn't get any refunds. We should also take this into account. Who will pay for such losses if we decide to cancel the meeting without the government asking for it?
>> 
>> As an example: the german FOSSGIS conference, which should take place with several hundred participants next week is also in contact with the local government. They issued a warning at their website, that the conference might be canceled, but as it stands now, it would take place.
>> 
>> I think we should do the same. We are a much smaller group - but with the increased risk that we come from diverse places.
>> 
>> This is my opinion - Paolo and Raymond what do you think? Should we discuss this in an ad-hoc PSC meeting?
>> 
>> Greetings,
>> Andreas
>> 
>> On Wed, 4 Mar 2020 at 23:07, Luigi Pirelli <luipir at gmail.com <mailto:luipir at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi
>> 
>> We are in a delicate phase of the expansion of the virus, where it's
>> not clear yet if the actions to prevent diffusion are effective or not.
>> 
>> Actually I'm 50% to travel to den-bosch or to remain at home
>> avoiding risks for my parents. I'm evaluating basing on the
>> evolution of the infection.
>> 
>> a friend (Scientist and worker in an hospital) suggest to remain at
>> home for social responsibility to reduce the opportunity to spread
>> the virus.
>> Social responsibility because 50% of the infected have to be
>> hospitalised and 10% in reanimation... Italy, for example, have only
>> 4000 reanimation places that have to be shared with "normal" cases.
>> 
>> My proposal would be to postpone at least 1 month later.
>> 
>> Luigi Pirelli
>> 
>> **************************************************************************************************
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>> -- --
>> Andreas Neumann
>> QGIS.ORG <http://QGIS.ORG> board member (treasurer)
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