How To Restrict The Threat And Spread Of Coronavirus In Your Conference

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WHO has declared COVID-1 as a pandemic. The rate at which this virus has spread and is spreading is scary. Initial symptoms of infected people are mild fever and sore throat like the common cold. But it can become severe for people within their vicinity, especially children, senior citizens and pregnant women. However, instead of panicking, we should take proper precautions to avoid Coronavirus.

We need to stay aware of the latest information on this pandemic outbreak. If you are in the event planning business, you need to take the following precautions in order to restrict the threat and spread of coronavirus in your conference. You can easily find the information on WHO website via local and national public health authority. However, to help you out, we have compiled a list of “ Things to keep in mind” before you go ahead with the execution of your upcoming event. Make sure you take care of the following points:

Sanitization of the venue, staff and attendees

  • Venue sanitization is the first thing you need to keep a check. Every corner, tables, windows and even handles must be sanitized properly.
  • Make sure that you have the arrangements for proper hand wash basins so that your attendees can regularly and thoroughly clean their hands with soap and water.
  • Apart from that keep alcohol-based hand rub or sanitizers on every table and corner Make sure your staff also has access to hand sanitizers and are following proper hygienic measures.
  • Ask people to avoid touching surfaces as much as possible because the COVID-19 virus can stay up to 48 hours on porous surfaces.
  • Try to limit physical touch by investing in event management app for any communication, before, during and after the event.
  • Make sure that you take care of catering hygiene in case you are planning to serve a full course or any other meal to your clients.

Sitting arrangement and Social distancing and respiratory hygiene

  • The sitting arrangement in your event should be such that you have at least a 1-meter distance between 2 people.
  • It will prevent the infection from spreading when someone is coughing or sneezing.
  • This virus is contagious so small liquid droplets from the nose or mouth containing the virus might travel when people breathe in.
  • Try not to invite senior citizens, children and pregnant women as they are at a higher risk of catching it.
  • Proper respiratory hygiene methods should be followed, e.g.coughing and sneezing with a napkin on your face so that you do not touch your face with infected hands.
  • Make sure you as the attendees to dispose of the used napkins and gloves once done, DO not carry them along as they can carry COVID-19 virus.

Go digital

  • Try to limit human contact as much as possible. Go for webinars via conference apps or con calls whenever possible.
  • Registration and ticket purchase should be online. You can try Grupio, the best event planning app for this. You can find options for single and multiple event management.
  • On the entry gate, have disposable sticks in case of touch screen self-service option.
  • QR code scanning for entry is the best option as the staff will not need any human contact to authenticate the attendee’s tickets.
  • Use in-app chat features of your event planning app for communication during the event. Add feedback or reviews within the app or send it via emails instead of traditional pen-paper forms.

Digital Flyers posters and standees

  • Digital Flyers, posters, standees and other informative banners that contain preventive measure should be displayed at the venue.
  • Make sure that you request people to avoid touching their face and mouth the virus can enter the body via these channels.
  • Before the event, you can send push notifications and in-app pop ups to your attendees on their events organizer app to make sure that they are aware of the precautions to be followed.
  • You can even prepare sanitization kits for your attendees with miniature sanitizers, face masks and surgical gloves as an as a gift.

Contact Local health authority

  • Keep an infrared temperature check machine at the entry to scan people before letting them.
  • Ask the attendees, if they or anyone within their close vicinity have travelled out of the country in the last 1 month. Ask them to get checked for COVID-19 in case they haven’t done it yet.
  • If any attendee has symptoms like fever, cough and difficulty breathing, or temperature then ask them to seek medical care or inform the local health authority so that they can be quarantined.
  • National and local authorities have the most up to date information and they will be able to direct you to the right health facility. It will protect your event and help prevent the spread of viruses and other infections.

In case you come in contact with any COVID-19 positive patient during your conference then protection measures for attendees should be followed

  • Get yourself checked at the local govt. Clinics where testing for COVID-19 is available.
  • In case you test negative or have mild symptoms, make sure you stay at home.
  • In the case of no symptoms, Self-quarantine and avoiding contact with others will allow medical facilities to operate more effectively.
  • If anyone near you develops a fever, cough or is facing difficulty breathing, ask them to seek medical advice promptly as it may be due to respiratory infection or other serious condition.

Summary

If you can not postpone your event, we suggest you take proper measures. Follow all the guidelines given by WHO in order to help prevent the spread of this pandemic. The only way to stop the spread of this virus is by making sure that you wash your hands frequently, take care of your personal hygiene and stay indoors as much as possible. If you can, go for digital methods like webinars, podcasts, online registrations and tickets etc for your event. We, white label event app , hope this article helped in some way. Stay safe and aware.

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