Abstract
Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, few scientific congresses have been held on-site. We prospectively evaluated the safety concept of the congress of the Swiss Societies of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Hygiene. Methods: The congress was held in Geneva (Switzerland) while local COVID-19 incidence (with SARS-CoV-2 wild type circulating) was 65/100,000 population (September 2020). A rigorous safety concept was implemented. Congress attendees filled out a questionnaire to assess risk perception, exposures, symptoms and diagnoses of SARS-CoV-2 before, during and after the congress. Dried blood spots were taken on-site and 4 weeks later to detect SARS-CoV-2 seroconversions. Results: Of 365 congress attendees, 196 (54%) either answered the questionnaire (N = 150) or provided baseline and follow-up blood samples (N = 168). None of the participants reported a positive PCR in the 2 weeks after the congress. Five of 168 (3%) participants were seropositive at follow-up, all of which had already been positive at baseline. Conclusion: Findings indicate that congresses with a rigorous safety concept may take place, even in areas with moderately-high COVID-19 activity. Whether this holds true in vaccinated populations and with more transmissible viral variants circulating remains unclear.
Highlights
An important and widely recommended measure to reduce the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is to ban or to limit public gatherings [1]
For 11 participants, the questionnaire could not be linked to the blood sample because of missing or incorrect infectious diseases (ID)
Regular contact with COVID-19 patients was reported by 50% of participants
Summary
An important and widely recommended measure to reduce the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is to ban or to limit public gatherings [1]. On November 17th, 2020, the Center for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued recommendations for organizers regarding risk assessment and safety concepts of such gathering [2, 3]. After the first COVID-19 wave in Switzerland, gatherings of less than 1,000 people—under the assumption of strict safety concepts in place - were allowed again as of June 2020. The Swiss Societies for Infectious Diseases (SSI) and for Hospital Hygiene (SSHH) decided to hold their annual congress, with an expected number of 300 participants, corresponding to an event with higher risk according to the CDC document [3]. Safety concepts of large gatherings have not been systematically evaluated [8]. There is no data evaluating the safety of medical congresses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about the perception of the risk and safety concept of congress attendees
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