Eurofurence Information > Questions & Answers
EF and Corona
o'wolf:
In case anyone has missed our tweet:
The federal government of Germany has advised its states today (2020-04-15) to extend the ban on large events until August 31st. This has not been put into law by the state of Berlin yet. We are in close contact with all our business partners and will make an announcement as soon as we have confirmation on the situation.
makogrey:
I do have a question about this. I just got an email from the airline I was going to take a flight to Berlin saying my flight is canceled due to government advisories. can I still get a refund by any chance or rollover to next year hopefully along with the boat cruise that was on the night before hand.
VulpesRex:
The wide range of response to the COVID-19 virus is frustrating. Europe seems to take it more seriously than most of the USA. While here it seems to be decimating the large cities of New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago, the populace at large seems to regard it as a terrible inconvenience, rather than a death-dealing plague. Many people here are off-work due to their places of work being closed, but they are not necessarily staying IN their homes, which was the point of the thing.
Me? I HAVE to work - Railroads AND Telecommunications have been deemed fields essential to the operation of civil society through the emergency, and I have a letter from the Federal Government attesting to that and asking for police to allow me through lines of closure when on railroad business, in my railroad vehicle. But so far, here in California at least, there is no Public Safety or Law Enforcement strategy aimed at enforcing Do-NOT-TRAVEL requests.
So far - Biggest Little Fur Con (BLFC) in Reno has been put off until at least Fall; and BABSCon, the MLP:FiM convention for San Francisco, has been cancelled for this year, resulting in automatic membership transfers to be issued for next year (BABSCon 2021). The Hyatt Hotel cancelled my reservation, without any penalty.
I'm still hoping for Anthrocon to take place, I think it will; the City of Pittsburgh and the VisitPittsburgh hospitality service have been doing their best to keep AC up-to-date and in the loop, but who knows how the situation and conditions turn in the next two weeks.
I am sure that EF will do the best they can, when they finally get a clear picture from city/state authorities on what the future holds; No doubt if things come to EF just being unable to take place at the Estrel on our planned dates, they will come up with a reasonable compromise - bearing in mind that not just EF, not just the Estrel, but the whole of the Hospitality and Convention Industries have suffered major business upsets over the situation. In short - EF (and by extension, WE) are not alone.
By the way - as I mentioned, I work for a major railroad in the USA. How has the European rail transport system, particularly DB, been affected by the current rules?
Schorse:
--- Quote from: VulpesRex on 16.04.2020, 11:52:53 ---
By the way - as I mentioned, I work for a major railroad in the USA. How has the European rail transport system, particularly DB, been affected by the current rules?
--- End quote ---
They finally managed to arrive in time now.
But yeah, they did cut down on lots of the connections. Traveling is only wanted to go to work, shopping or other urgent reasons. It's not completze forbidden, but they really appeal to you.
Abandon Ambition (formerly "Zelaphas"):
--- Quote from: VulpesRex on 16.04.2020, 11:52:53 --- The wide range of response to the COVID-19 virus is frustrating. Europe seems to take it more seriously than most of the USA. While here it seems to be decimating the large cities of New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago, the populace at large seems to regard it as a terrible inconvenience, rather than a death-dealing plague. Many people here are off-work due to their places of work being closed, but they are not necessarily staying IN their homes, which was the point of the thing.
[...]
I'm still hoping for Anthrocon to take place, I think it will; the City of Pittsburgh and the VisitPittsburgh hospitality service have been doing their best to keep AC up-to-date and in the loop, but who knows how the situation and conditions turn in the next two weeks.
--- End quote ---
I'm a former Chicagoan now living in France. I have Anthrocon and Eurofurence still on my calendar this year as a dealer. And I can tell you, I agree that this disparity between US and Europe responses is frustrating.
Americans don't have the same labor protections that many Europeans do. I'm greatly simplifying things, but most businesses/governments are already required to have ~5 weeks vacation leave and extended sick leave or unemployment baked into the cost of hiring each employee. So while it hasn't been perfect, the European response has been to largely tap into those already existing social safety nets while they demand people stay at home and not work. So again, it hasn't been perfect, additional stimulus has been needed in many cases, and there's still a negative economic impact (-12% in France last I heard), but most Europeans were already protected for something like this. If you're already protected from instant homelessness/starvation, you're more likely to be willing to comply with stay at home and social distancing orders.
In the US, there's no government mandated sick or vacation leave, it's difficult even in prosperous times to qualify for unemployment insurance, access to healthcare is mostly done through health insurance provided by your employer, and most states have "at will" employment laws meaning you can walk into work on Tuesday and discover you've been let go from your job with zero notice and zero pay/severance package. And the millions of people working in restaurants and bars for a lower minimum wage than others (like $2.50/hr in some states) relying on tips to pad out their regular income are especially screwed. To have the government suddenly shut down huge swaths of the economy and demand everyone stay home when people have no sick/vacation leave, no severance pay, near-impossibility of getting unemployment insurance, and having their healthcare cut off, when so many Americans already can't afford a $500 unexpected emergency, is an especially painful blow. I can understand (but disagree) why so many Americans are desperate to just ignore the virus and get everyone working again. Work is the only thing most Americans even have.
The disparity in approaches is actually why I'm really hoping Anthrocon gets cancelled and there's still travel bans across the Atlantic (so I can get a refund on my flights). I had planned to be a dealer at AC this year and combine the trip with a visit to my folks whom I haven't seen in nearly two years. So I'm extremely upset to cancel all that, but at this rate, even if I were able to go (as a US citizen I'm allowed to return to the US whenever I want, assuming I can get a flight...), they may mandate that I be quarantined upon arrival for 2 or more weeks, which would prevent me from going to Anthrocon and cut my visit with family down to less than a week. Then I'd likely have to be quarantined getting back to France, which, if my husband joined me, would cut into the leave he'd already take for the US trip, meaning it'd likely be unpaid leave at that point, and with my income getting hit by event cancelations and being unable to ship purchases in my online shop due to most French post offices being closed, we'd come home with only lots of time lost in quarantine, no income from Anthrocon, and tighter belts for the rest of the year.
A bit of a rant on my end here but yeah, this whole situation sucks for everyone. To be clear, I'm not upset with the fact that we have to be locked down or unable to travel, and I'm not upset with whatever responses convention staff need to make to all this. They're doing their best and I can recognize what's necessary. It's just ruined the planning and incomes and family reunions of so many people. So it's unfortunate.
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