COVID-19 Safety Policy
Furry Weekend Atlanta 2023
Updated March 12th, 2023
Our leadership team has spent the last 7 days looking at data, exploring all of our options, debating, shedding tears, and hugging it out to come to this decision. We ask that you read this completely to fully understand why we’re doing this and to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Hey, y’all.
A recent change in the availability of federally-funded CoVID-19 tests has led the FWA leadership team to decide that it is no longer feasible to require vaccinations or testing to attend Furry Weekend Atlanta 2023. We will still follow CDC guidelines on masking and require them if the CoVID-19 community levels are high at the time of our event.
This sucks. This really, REALLY sucks. We spent a lot of time crafting and are proud of the policy that we released back in February. But with the changes to the emergency orders, loss of federal funding, and challenges for our international guests, we feel this is the right decision.
Before we go into why we’re making this decision, we want to be extraordinarily clear about something:
Our team thinks that everyone who can should go get their covid bivalent booster. So, GO GET YOUR HECKIN’ BOOSTER. Seriously, not even 17% of the US population has received the bivalent booster. Additionally, get your flu shot if you’re able. Be healthy. Use the resources available to you to be healthy. Make smart choices. Stay home if you’re sick. Protect yourself. Protect others. The new bivalent booster is WAY more effective at keeping you from getting sick than the previous boosters!1
When we made our CoVID-19 policy in early February, we made it using the facts available at the time, advice from our local health officials, and the knowledge that our attendees and vendors would feel safest with us having a policy.
At that time, rapid NAAT tests were being offered for free at most pharmacies courtesy of federal funding, which greatly influenced our decision. Now, however, the government funding that supported free testing has not been extended and free tests are rapidly becoming unavailable. Meaning an elective NAAT test now costs $100-200. It would be unreasonable for us to ask our attendees to pay this much for testing, and affordable solutions for us to offer tests at con do not exist.2
Further, the US covid public health emergency expires on May 11, 2023, which is the first day (Thursday) of FWA.
Here’s the reality. Less than 17% of the US population has received the bivalent booster. That number is staggering when you consider how many guests we serve. Considering the amount of questions we’ve received asking what the bivalent vaccine even is, it was clear to us that this number is a good representation of our community too. Additionally, our international guests have little to no access to the bivalent booster.
NIH research indicates the effectiveness of the original vaccines and boosters wanes quickly with time and is drastically lower than the bivalent booster against Omicron and its associated sub-variants.3 We want any requirements we make to have an impact on the health of our attendees; requiring anything other than the bivalent booster would not be effective. We know now that getting the bivalent booster isn’t feasible for all of our attendees, especially our international ones. Our workaround was to allow attendees to bring a negative NAAT test instead of proof of vaccination.
Now with the loss of federal funding and the public health emergency ending, NAAT/PCR tests are $100-$200 each. That isn’t something we can ask our attendees to pay on top of their registration.
We’ve spent a lot of time looking into our available options for on-site testing. But, the truth of the matter is we do not have the financial resources or personnel to provide on-site rapid NAAT covid testing without significantly increasing the cost of registration or charging significant fees for these tests.
According to studies provided by the FDA, rapid antigen tests give false negative results as much as 48% of the time in people who show no symptoms of covid.4 Not only that, we have no way of verifying that at-home tests are taken correctly or taken by the person presenting the test, making the results even less reliable.
FWA’s leadership takes health and safety seriously and we don’t want to give our attendees a false sense of security. If we were to choose one of the options listed above, we feel it would be no better than our current decision as far as keeping our attendees safe, it would drastically increase wait times for registration, and add unnecessary stress to our staff and attendees.
We want you to go to FWA with as much factual information as we can give so that you can make the decisions you feel are necessary to stay safe. If you are worried about catching con-crud we highly encourage you to wear an N95 mask, even if you’re completely up to date on your vaccines.
Finally, the only reason we are comfortable making this decision is because of the reduced severity of the current CoVID-19 variants.5 The Omicron variant and its sub-variants result in less severe outcomes than the Delta variant from last year. But to reiterate our opinion, CoVid-19 is still here and you should go get the most current (bivalent) booster if it’s available to you and you’re able to do so. Especially while it’s free in the US.
Thank you to those attendees that have read our policy and have gotten their most recent booster. Paired with an N95 mask, this is one of the best ways to be protected against Covid-19 at our event.
We hope that you understand why our leadership team has made this decision. We understand that this is a divisive topic and understand if this changes your decision to attend FWA. You can reach out to our Registration team at [email protected] if you would like to refund your registration or roll over your registration to 2024.
In order to be completely transparent, here are some of the sources that helped inform our decision:
- https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e1.htm
- https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/commercialization-of-covid-19-vaccines-treatments-and-tests-implications-for-access-and-coverage/
- https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/bivalent-boosters-provide-better-protection-against-severe-covid-19
- https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/home-covid-19-antigen-tests-take-steps-reduce-your-risk-false-negative-results-fda-safety
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9111734/
- Directors
Furry Weekend Atlanta
The following is our original policy regarding masking published February 10th, 2023. This policy is not changing.
How We’re Handling Masks
Masking requirements will be determined by the CDC’s recommendations around community transmission levels (read more here).
Guests are encouraged to bring face coverings from home. FWA will have a limited supply of surgical masks available to attendees at no charge should you need one. To protect against Covid-19 it is recommended that you wear a properly fitted surgical mask or a properly fitted N95 mask. Read more about the effectiveness of various mask options here: https://healthcareready.org/infographic-how-protective-is-the-mask-youre-wearing/
If the CDC indicates the CoVID-19 community level is high at the time of our event, face coverings will be required in all convention spaces. Additionally, we ask our guests to practice common sense and safe practices when outside of convention spaces.
If the CDC indicates the CoVID-19 community level is low or medium at the time of our event, we still strongly encourage our guests to practice safe habits and wear a mask in high exposure settings such as Registration, Dealer’s Den, Artist Alley, Video Game Room, Board Game Room, and crowded main events. Please consider protecting yourself and our staff by masking in these areas. Remember, vendors may choose to refuse service to guests that are not masked; per FWA policy, that is their right to do so.
Mask Recommendations*:
| NOT RECOMMENDED | RECOMMENDED | HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
| Loosely Woven Cloth Products** | Well-fitting disposable surgical mask | Well-fitting N95 mask |
| Layered Finely Woven Cloth Products** | Well-fitting KN95 Masks | NIOSH approved N95 equivalent |
| Neck Gaiters/Balaclavas | ||
| Improperly fitted recommended mask |
* Based on the CDC guidelines on masking: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/types-of-masks.html
**If you wish to wear decorative cloth masks we recommend wearing at least a well fitted surgical mask underneath.