Minicon 55

[pameladean]

Minicon 55, twice postponed and long anticipated, is being held in person this weekend.

I am not attending most of it, having decided that doing so is a bit too risky for me personally.

At the moment, I'm planning to ride in to the hotel with David on Friday, to attend the panel "Archiving SF," which runs from four to five p.m. and in which he'll be showing some of the photos he's been working on by various fannish photographers including himself. I might put my head into the art show to see his handful of prints hanging up. I'm hoping to have a chat with Jo, and wave or yell behind my mask to a few more people, but then I am going home and sadly staying there. It looks like a really good program; I would attend many panels, ordinarily, out of this batch; I would plant myself in the music room and just listen to every single musician's concert. I would have meals with good friends and acquaintances and a few new people, with luck.

But for me, with my comorbidities and diabetes, I think it's too risky. Minicon requires vaccination and a booster and masking in public spaces except for those designated for eating and drinking. I think these precautions are sensible, but maybe not for me. So David cancelled one of our hotel rooms, and I have not had to do a lot of laundry.

I hope everyone who goes has a lovely safe time.

Pamela

Comments

[graydon]

Those are not sufficient precautions.

BA.2 is spreadinger than measles, and you can look up measles precautions online, since those, under the term airborne precautions, are standard public health things around for decades. Anything less than that is not enough; it's not clear that those airborne precautions are sufficient with the more recent variants, which are more infectious than measles. (The US has several circulating BA.2 sub-variants that are more contagious and more severe than BA.2, too.)

I hope going for an hour is like playing Russian roulette once, instead of five or six times as one might staying for longer, but could wish that you would not.

[pameladean]

I appreciate your concern.

I won't be taking off my mask to eat or drink -- this is one reason I am not attending the entire convention, as having to go back to the room to drink as well as to eat would really break up the day and the conversations, unless it just resulted in my getting dehydrated. Also I would eat alone and that's not much fun at a convention.

According to the wastewater data, we have some Omicron variants but at a very low level. So I hope Minicon can get away with holding itself.

P.

[graydon]

I hope so!

I hope you have a good time while you're there, too.

Please keep in mind that like there are a few well-documented cases of people catching measles from walking through the same volume of air an hour later, there are well-documented cases of "walked into the same convenience store" COVID transmission. Nothing inside that isn't ferociously and specifically ventilated can be considered safe, door or no door.

[havocthecat]

These all sound like sensible precautions! I'm glad you're being careful!

[pameladean]

They are way more than most places are doing any longer, and it's very hard to gauge whether that degree of difference is sufficient. We are all so fucked.

P.

[sartorias]

It's good you are staying safe!

[pameladean]

Doing my best. The information with which to judge one's own risk as we are now advised to do is being withdrawn slowly, so I don't know when next I will venture to do anything else of the sort.

P.

[lcohen]

i wouldn't have had the opportunity to see you but i feel your absence on behalf of those who would go eat indian food with you in my stead. but i agree that taking care of yourself is primary--having covid is no picnic!
*hugs and love*

[quadong]

I'll be happy to briefly see you!