CDC Confirms NYC Anime Con Was Not an Omicron Superspreader Event

The Center for Disease Control launched a examine yesterday that the 2021 Anime NYC conference was not a superspreader occasion, regardless of the attendance of one of many first identified individuals within the U.S. to have been contaminated with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. But this wasn’t simply luck—the occasion had a number of measures in place to attenuate an infection, which implies it may be used as a mannequin for different fan conventions sooner or later.

The cause Anime NYC was suspected to be a superspreader (even assumed to be, one would possibly say) is as a result of Omicron is considerably extra infectious than earlier iterations of covid-19, and greater than 53,000 anime followers got here to the con, held in New York City on the Javits Center. The CDC says the occasion’s “good air filtration, widespread vaccination, and indoor masking” helped reduce unfold of the virus. Additionally, Anime NYC required attendees to have a minimum of one vaccination dose, whereas the conference middle used HEPA filters in its air flow.

According to the New York Times, “The share of attendee tests that came back positive was similar to the share of coronavirus tests that were positive across New York City around the same time, the CDC said. What’s more, the few positive samples that were genetically sequenced were largely of the Delta variant, not Omicron. And conventiongoers who became infected were more likely than those who tested negative to have gone to bars, nightclubs, or karaoke clubs.”

However, don’t go packing your luggage for San Diego Comic-Con simply but. There are nonetheless a number of further elements that possible stored an infection charges down. For occasion, the CDC reported that had Omicron been extra prevalent across the metropolis on the time, issues possible wouldn’t have gone so properly. And, in fact, Omicron is way extra prevalent now throughout the nation.

Still, this implies Anime NYC may stand as a mannequin for different conventions to observe sooner or later to ensure that comparatively massive teams of followers to come back collectively and have a good time comics, anime, gaming, and extra in relative security. There’s clearly no timeline in sight the place 160,000 persons are all going to crowd into the San Diego Convention Center anytime quickly, however man, it could be good to hang around with some fellow nerds in individual once more finally.

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