Are in-person events safe to attend?
This question is on the minds of many travel professionals, for whom tradeshows and meetings are necessary for continuing education, acquiring new business leads and strengthening relationships (not to mention, these meetings are a major economic driver to the U.S. economy).
Today, a coalition of travel and business leaders addressed this issue during an event at the National Press Club. John Cordier, CEO and co-founder of Epistemix Inc. — an epidemiological modeling platform — shared data on in-person events that layer COVID-19 precautions including masks, vaccinations and/or showing a negative COVID-19 test. As opposed to other large gatherings, these events, he said, create a 4x risk reduction and carry only a 0.001% risk of COVID-19 transmission to attendees.
Epistemix modeling analysis also found that events are not a major driver of positive case counts because in-person meetings (featuring exhibitors and attendees) have higher vaccination rates (~80%) than the overall population.
According to Destination Analysts research, 78% of Americans who have traveled for business in the last two years have been vaccinated, compared to 72% of U.S. travelers overall.
When asked why the U.S. Travel Association does not support a vaccine mandate, Roger Dow, CEO and president for the association, pointed to the difficulty of establishing such a measure by comparing it to the slow implementation of the Real ID Act.
“We have Real ID in the U.S., which we have been trying to do for 11 years,” he said. “For the long term, mandates have never really proved that they work. Several countries are going back to not doing a mandate, such as the U.K.”
Cordier shared that the protocols required at in-person events are subject to change as the pandemic runs its course.
“COVID-19 is something that will need to be managed over time,” he said. “As we look at getting over this fall peak … there is the escalation of protocols and then the de-escalation. There might be protocols that go in place this fall, and they can then get lifted in early 2022 and beyond.”
Technological tools that track protocols were also highlighted during the event as a needed way to move forward.
One such tool, Health Pass by Clear, allows employees and attendees access to a platform to upload proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test before an event.
"We are partnering with businesses to make sure we never shut down again,” said Caryn Seidman-Becker, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Clear. “We have to put the platforms in place to make sure of that.”
According to data company Tourism Economics, in 2019, domestic business travel generated $270 billion in direct travel spending and supported 4 million U.S. jobs. In 2020, a decline of 80% in meetings and events resulted in a $97 billion loss in spending.
