Forum - View topicOtakon 2021: Convention in the Time of COVID
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Heeeeeeeeeey I was there too.
 Putting out a video on YT about my experience. Overall, it was....okay? I was just mad about the "masks required for karaoke" thing...come on, how can I properly sing when my mouth is COVERED!?
But....yeah, I get it....it's not like they can clean the mic after each and every singer. It's impractical. I don't recall seeing unmasked people there unless they were eating. And I didn't see anyone eating in panels; there were signs on the door that said it was prohibited. Some panelists did not wear them so they could speak to the audience properly. But most of them did. The biggest change to Otakon besides the mask thing was con closing at 12 a.m. And that was no big deal to me (yawns) I am way too old to stay up really late past that anyway. xD But it's certainly a new thing with their schedule. [edit] I forgot to mention that they did temperature checks at the door. Important. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2948 Location: Email for assistance only |
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The only "unrelated" info in here is contextual stats for COVID for the area in which this con took place. It's only irrelevant if you wanted me to pretend this wasn't happening during a pandemic; but the only reason this Otakon is particularly notable is BECAUSE of the circumstances it happened under. It's the reality of the situation and it's weird to suggest it should be ignored because it wasn't cheery enough for you.
Doubtful, given that it's state wide and not limited to the event itself. The whole idea behind the mandate is to make it extremely difficult to continue living, commuting, and working in NY without a vaccine. The only populations I could see the event taking a hit on would be out of state folks who don't work in NY and also refuse to get vaccinated. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2316 |
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I would honestly have been pretty disappointed in ANN's coverage if it hadn't covered DC-area COVID. That's obviously crucial context.
Hope it wasn't a superspreader event -- 26K is an awful lot people in that confined space. Glad I chose not to attend, at this point. |
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OnePunchWeeb
Posts: 2 |
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I won't bash and say what was written was unrelated. What I think bothered me, and I'm not taking issue with anything written in the article, is that some context is missing.
In her defense, this is an opinion piece. For those mad Ms. Loveridge describes the con the way she did, that's what an opinion piece DOES. She is as entitled to her view as I am mine. I do think failing to mention the convention center measures is somewhat misleading. And not note DCs reporting style, specifically that it takes the weekend numbers into account on Monday, I feel leaves an important piece of context out. But that shouldn't be used as a cudgel because people disagree with the tone. She said nothing that was not based in fact regarding covid. If you have a problem with that, you might be part of the problem. And it doesn't change the fundamental situation DC and the nation writ large with Delta. It's bad and going to get worse. I've got my feelings as a fan of the con and a long time Washingtonian, but it would be absurd not to take into account the situation affecting literally everyone on earth right now. DC is the nation's capital and what happens here holds great symbolism. Factor that with this being DCs first convention since Covid, and not focusing on that would have been crappy journalism. I appreciate hearing perspectives not my own, and I think some of the posters here perhaps don't. Which is very sad but telling to me. |
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Prede
 Posts: 388 |
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No need to be so confrontational. However the comments about Florida have absolutely nothing to do with this anime convention which took place over 800 miles away. I dislike their governor, I think they’re doing a horrible job handling the virus down there, but I don’t see the point in including it in this article or many of the other unrelated comments. I am not saying to ignore the worldwide pandemic, but you could have covered it more in the context of this specific event. I wasn’t saying don’t cover it because it’s not “cheery”, you put words in my mouth. I’m saying it shouldn’t be the main focus here. It felt like you wanted to write about the virus not the convention. Just my opinion, you can write what you like. You’re the boss here I’m just some rando. My opinion of the con was vastly different from yours. Maybe I just was in different areas of the building than you, but my opinion is quite different. I also find the absence of many other noteworthy or interesting things that happened there, in your article, disappointing. It would have been nice to mention Aniemgo’s panel, although no new licenses were announced there they did do a nice job and shared a lot about their ongoing work on the titles they are releasing, among some other interesting notes. Other panels were interesting too. I’m sorry but this article was not to my taste. I don’t mean to be offensive or mean. I just am saying I would have wrote it very differently if it was up to me to cover this event. You do you though. |
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DQBunny
 Posts: 63 Location: Mechanicsburg, PA |
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As a data reporter who has worked with COVID data since last March, I do wish you had put your stats into correct context. The “spike” that you reported for Monday was actually a combined total of cases from over the weekend, August 6-8. D.C. does not report daily COVID stats on Saturday and Sunday anymore. You’re presenting an inaccurate picture when you don’t explain that context. Here is the source of the data: https://mayor.dc.gov/release/coronavirus-data-august-6-8-2021 A better thing to look at would be CDC community transmission data for the DC area and how that has changed drastically in such a short amount of time. While I did enjoy your article, I also wish it made clear that we’re not going to know the potential COVID outcomes until this weekend or next week. But even then it’s hard to tell because most folks who go to the con don’t live there, so COVID cases would be reported to their home state/county. |
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revolutionotaku
Posts: 888 |
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As an unvaccinated attendee, I've taken personal safety procedures before, during & after Otakon.
1.) I've taken a COVID test 72 hours before my flight to DC which came back negative. 2.) I've wore a face mask indoors during the entire time at the con. 3.) I always took a shower at my hotel after returning from the con or anywhere else in DC. 4.) After returning home, I've scheduled another COVID test which also came back negative. Last edited by revolutionotaku on Thu Aug 12, 2021 7:53 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 2948 Location: Email for assistance only |
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There's one sentence about Florida, and again, it's a comparison. That is to say "these numbers aren't as bad as other places in the U.S., but they aren't great." You could swap out Florida for Louisiana, I guess but both work for the point I was making. It's a weird thing to be defensive about, I didn't bring it up for any political reasons like its governor or something.
I was also at the AnimEigo panel. It was funny (I tweeted about Woodhead's joke about his mom's porn habits) but it wasn't notable (it's the panel I'm referring to that wasn't packed, for the record). I like the guy's work; I backed their Gunsmith Cats release, but there wasn't anything worth writing home about. What was discussed as far as finding the A-Ko print has already been covered elsewhere and it was a 15min presentation with a 45min Q&A. As a journalist that has covered anime cons for over a decade, I've sat in on a lot of industry panels. A lot. I wouldn't include them in any kind of write-up except to note particular releases or something because they are typically very by-the-book presentations and trailer sizzle reels repeated ad nauseum. I applaud Discotek for NOT running that type of panel. In general, ANN doesn't cover fan panels although I agree they are a lot of fun. While my experience with the mask issue was unfortunate at one I did attend, I don't put that on the presenters themselves. That's not their job. As for "cheery" putting words in your mouth; you complained about the tone. The only tonal problem to pull from that is it wasn't positive enough compared to your experience. I had a great time in DC, but that impression is thanks to who I got to see while I was there, not what we were doing and given the current situation right now I stand by my feelings that running an event of this magnitude was a health risk. The temperature checks people are mentioning, I'm honestly not sure how they took place because no one was putting thermometers up to people's heads when I went into the building and it isn't a great indicator of infection anyway. I mostly saw mask compliance except in the panel I mentioned and when I started going through my cosplay photos. Fun fact: there's three different unmasked folks in that MHA photo on the site right now.
I added that it's accumulative. Also, if you only wanted to compare that weekend to previous weekends, it's still significantly higher than the previous Monday reports. August 9 (486 cases) - a 34% increase from the previous weekend August 2 (318 cases) - a 41.2% increase from the previous weekend July 26: (187 cases) The seven day average is also still trending upward however you slice it. For anyone who would like to just look at the graph (this is DC only): https://twitter.com/ANN_Lynzee/status/1425970868950159360 |
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DQBunny
Posts: 63 Location: Mechanicsburg, PA |
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Thank you for clarifying it. <3 And you're absolutely right. I did a comparison for Pennsylvania between July 31 and yesterday, and it was just ... yeah. https://twitter.com/savvyliterate/status/1425603662462787584 NGL, I am very worried about Dragon Con. And because I'm an creator whose table rolled over, I can't afford to back out this year. I'm paying very close attention to Otakon and ordered a supply of N95s to take with me. My hope is that being on the top floor of AmericasMart will help. Your piece gave me a lot to look out for in Atlanta in a few weeks. |
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Prede
Posts: 388 |
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Yeh I was just talking about this with another guest. If there is an outbreak or a “spike” due to this convention, it would require some good contact tracing unless a lot of the people who attended the con actually live in or near DC. I suppose if it was real bad it would spread to the rest of the dc community via restaurants and other contact with dc people. Regardless we will not know anything for at least another couple days if not another week. Thank you for this post, it was interesting to hear about how the data is being released. |
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Prede
Posts: 388 |
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Not to beat a dead horse here but yes it may not be super noteworthy I think their panel earned a mention at least. It is at a minimum more relevant than some of the other parts of this article. I too enjoyed Mr. Woodhead’s story about his mother’s taste. I wish there was more for them to show and less q and a, but it was alright. At the very least it could have been noted your article that they gave a panel and had a presence at the convention. Media Blasters also had a presence, via a booth. And Sentai Filmworks was airing some of their shows subtitled. I feel a lot of that was more related then an update on the pandemic. We can and are finding that out via traditional media not this site.
Again sorry if I seemed rude, that was never my intent, but this article was not exactly something I agreed with and so I thought I’d give my two cents. My view of the con, including masks, just is so different from yours. For example There was one one issue I noticed with masks during the entire weekend and the staff quickly yelled at the lady walking down the hall and she put her mask on. I admit we were prob in different places most of the convention, so we saw different things. But I just thought I’d throw that out there. Since my view of the weekend was different I thought I had to write something. |
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