Go Home, Virus Conference Tells Attendees Headed to Boston Event

(Bloomberg) -- Organizers of a virus conference in Boston are telling attendees to go home as they switch to a virtual event because of the growing threat of catching Covid-19.

The conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections, organized by the International Antiviral Society–USA, is still going ahead but not at the city’s Hynes Convention Center as was planned. Instead, all meetings, presentations and panels will be done virtually.

While thousands of researchers from around the world were supposed to be in Boston for the event, scheduled to start Sunday, organizers told the planned attendees in an update Friday not to travel to the city as cases spread globally. There are 13 confirmed and presumptive cases in Massachusetts, the state said Saturday in its most recent update, many linked to a recent gathering of Biogen executives in downtown Boston.

“If you are already on your way to Boston, you should plan to return to your home,” the organizers said on their website. At this point there’s no plan to offer refunds except to participants from countries under a specific travel ban, such as China, they said.

A special session on the coronavirus is scheduled for Tuesday, featuring the chief epidemiologist from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as Anthony Fauci, the doctor who oversees infectious diseases for the National Institutes of Health. Organizers said 4,300 people registered for the conference, which is set to run through Wednesday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael McDonald in Boston at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.net;Janet Wu in Boston at janetwu1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Kevin Miller

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