Skift Take
As COVID-19 is spreading through whole communities at a fast pace, event professionals who are planning mass gatherings or large community events in the weeks and months to come should be prepared to deal with what an outbreak would mean for their events.
Giving in to panic is not an option and there are strategies you can adopt in case of an outbreak in the community hosting your event. Here is what the CDC recommends you implement before, during, and after a COVID-19 outbreak.
Before a COVID-19 Outbreak
If the destination community for your event has not seen an outbreak yet, the most important thing to do at this point is to plan your response.
Review all emergency plans:
Build strong relationships locally:
Address all key prevention strategies in your emergency plan:
Communicate:
During a COVID-19 outbreak
Now is the time to act.
Put your plans into action:
If an outbreak occurs in the community before your event is due to take place:
If the criteria are met for canceling or postponing your event, communicate to all actors:
After a COVID-19 outbreak
As in any emergency situation, it is important to follow-up and highlight areas that might need improvement for future similar situations.
Evaluate how effective your emergency plans were:
Prepare for the future:
IN CONCLUSION
As COVID-19 continues to compromise events worldwide, event professionals and trade associations will need to keep abreast of the best, most reliable advice to ensure their events are prepared. These are CDC’s latest recommendations for event planners, but we should expect them to evolve with the escalating situation. We’ll continue to keep you updated.