Last week, we covered the story about an apparent COVID outbreak at PAX East, which followed an outbreak at GDC; no less than the Boston Globe called the virus, which has killed at least 6M people worldwide and almost a million here in the US alone, an “unwelcome guest” at the annual convention. Unfortunately, now it appears a victim of the PAX outbreak has passed away.
According to Good Vibes Gaming, Dawn “Deestar” Wood worked as a PAX enforcer at the April event. The Gofundme for Wood’s family says that she “returned home sick with COVID-19 after being exposed during the convention” and died April 30th.
“We know that many others had also come home sick (myself included) and hope that all are healing well,” Wood’s sister and Gofundme organizer wrote. “Please don’t be afraid to seek help especially if you have other health issues that could make this illness so much worse. Dawn had so much fun this year and wasn’t even upset that she came home sick.”
PAX East this year required masking and proof of vaccination for entry, more than what is mandated by the state of Massachusetts.
MMO players, of course, are gearing up for EVE Fanfest in Reykjavik this weekend; it will not have vaccine, masking, or social distancing requirements. Instead, CCP’s health and safety plan is to provide hand sanitizer and “encourage you to be mindful of other people’s personal space.” (COVID, of course, is transmitted through airborne aerosolized particles.)
A PAX Enforcer passed away after catching covid at the event. Devastating to hear, consider donating to their funeralhttps://t.co/niDGonTH9r
— Jon Cartwright (@JonComms) May 2, 2022
