So let’s just do a quick recap, shall we? This year’s PAX East had vaccination and masking, and people still reported cases of COVID-19 in the wake of the event, including a death of a staff member. GDC 2022? Still a spreading event. The EVE fanfest resulted in dozens cases of COVID-19 that stranded some people in Iceland for a while and sent one attendee to the hospital. And even PAX West plans for vax-and-mask mitigation. So are you excited to travel out to TwitchCon 2022 in San Diego, California, in October? Because you’ll be happy to know that in accordance with any and all reasonable concerns about this ongoing pandemic, TwitchCon will feature no mask requirements, vaccination requirements, or really any mitigation measures beyond “best of luck!”
The page in question does state that it will comply with any and all state and federal regulations regarding health precautions to be taken at the event, but it is apparently enacting no measures above and beyond what it is legally required to do. Which means that if you’re still planning to attend, maybe the history of conventions in 2022 with health precautions will give you a moment’s pause. We are sorry to report that airborne pathogens do not go away because you are tired of thinking of them.
Until @Twitch decides to take the safety and health of its employees (Streamers & staff) seriously, my recommendation as a Twitch Ambassador is that you should skip TwitchCon San Diego.
Mandatory masks and testing has shown to work at other conventions. TC should be no different https://t.co/pEuhvAp4a5
— Steven Spohn (Spawn) (@stevenspohn) August 2, 2022
We are already seeing a significant spike in both positive cases and deaths from COVID here in California. The decreased severity of Omicron COVID is countered by the massive increase in number of positive infections.
Another spike will be happening in the fall, guaranteed (1/x) pic.twitter.com/RO4ufIN5Qh
— DoctorJohn 🩻 (@DoctorJohn_MD) July 21, 2022