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Re: COVID [was: Re: DebConf 25 Daily announcements - 2025.07.15 - Daytrip information && DebConf Day 2]



Hello,

On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 11:44:02AM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> […] 
> I hope the next Debconf will have a stronger, not weaker, policy.
> 
> For example, we should expect attendees to do daily tests.  This has a
> relatively low financial cost.  Positive tests come after
> infectiousness starts, but with a long conference like Debconf they
> can help reduce the continued transmission risk from asymptomatic
> cases.
> 
> We should expect attendees with cold-like symptoms to mask, at the
> very least, regardless of test status.
> 
> At registration, attendees should be reminded of the policy and their
> responisbility, and asked to explicitly confirm that they will follow
> the policy.
> 
> We could ask attendees to show evidence of a negative pre-travel test
> at Registration (and failing that, registration would have tests
> on-hand).  Announcing such a policy in advance can discourage
> symptomatic people from travelling to the conference and giving
> everyone "con crud".
> […]

I wrote a "proof of concept" of what I'd like to have for future DebConfs,
namely to have attendee figures to get a general trend so we can adjust
COVID (or flu, etc.) policies, and for everyone to decide whether to
wear a simple mask, FFP2, or not attend.

The idea is for a significant number of attendees to respond to a short
questionnaire a few days before the conference, and every day during the
conference. A random offer to get tested could appear (with a factor to
be adjusted based on the number of tests; we could imagine purchasing
them in bulk or asking each attendee to bring a certain number).

Here's what it looks like:

https://gcolpart.evolix.net/covid-group-tracker-debconf25/

The source code is on https://salsa.debian.org/reg/covid-group-tracker

Context: I had some symptoms on July 14th, the first day of DebConf. I
tested myself that evening and was positive: so I missed the rest of
DebConf :'( I probably got infected during Debcamp


Regards,
-- 
Grégory Colpart


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