https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/1 ... 302a/full/
The American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, the world’s largest annual gathering of physicists, has been canceled due to concerns over the rapid spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. The announcement of the decision to call off the conference in Denver came at 8:00pm MST on 29 February, just 36 hours before the first scientific sessions were scheduled to start on 2 March. The meeting typically draws about 10 000 attendees from multiple continents.
In a Sunday-afternoon press conference, APS chief executive officer Kate Kirby and deputy executive officer and chief operating officer James Taylor said they did not take the decision lightly. They based it on the changing information coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Johns Hopkins University, and other relevant websites they had been monitoring, as well as “an abundance of caution that we would not be the cause of spreading this disease further,” Kirby said. She pointed specifically to the CDC’s new warnings about travel to South Korea and Italy, countries from which “a number of” registrants were expected to embark to Denver.
The APS leaders shared factors that they said made the call particularly difficult. For example, Taylor said that the CDC’s advice regarding conferences is more geared toward events with mostly domestic attendees; however, about 30% of March Meeting attendees come from abroad. And a call on Saturday to Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment for guidance from an epidemiologist went unreturned, Kirby said.
In the weeks leading up to the meeting, at least 500 registrants had canceled from China alone, Kirby said. Another roughly 300 attendees from both the US and abroad backed out last week. Those cancellations and the resulting changes to the program meant that the meeting would not have been “as vibrant” as in past years, Kirby said, which contributed to the decision.
That can't be good. I mean these aren't the people studying the virus, but they're adjacent to (and in some cases *are*) those guys. It's one thing when manufacturing go in to what seems like over cautious mode. It's another when a subset of the guys running a conference have the brain power and experience to actually, you know, understand the day to day surrounding learning the spread and morbidity at the most basic levels, rather than the MSNBC, BusinessInsider, or federal gubment dissemination we get.
It's a good thing I'm never around people, I guess.
For context
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Physical_Society
Biological Physics (DBIO): With over 2,000 members,[11] the division is the second largest learned society in the world devoted to biological physics, following the Biophysical Society. The objective of the division is the advancement and dissemination of knowledge on the broad interface of physics and biology. This includes studying biological phenomena with physics tools and identifying new physics questions within biological contexts. The division supports a program of over 600 (as of 2016) presentations at the annual March Meeting of the APS, on topics ranging from protein biophysics, to neuroscience and evolution. It promotes research and development of biological physics, enhanced the standing of the field, and recognizes important contributions to the field, such as by awarding the Max Delbruck Prize in biological physics.[12]
It wouldn't surprise if you are correct.
