The executives of both societies have been closely monitoring both governmental and institutional responses to the COVID-19 virus. The continued health and well-being of our members and conference participants is our paramount concern. It is important to take this pandemic seriously, but also avoid unnecessary panic. Given the developments of the last 24 hours and after thoughtful deliberation, we have determined that the upcoming conference at St. John’s University will be cancelled.
St. John’s University has already closed its campuses for March and may decide to close for April as well. There are no known cases of COVID-19 at this time on any of the St. John’s University campuses or locations. However, given the declaration of a state of emergency in New York state and the lockdown of New Rochelle, New York City may well begin to shut down more fully in the weeks ahead. As many of you know, President Trump has effectively banned travel from Europe to the US. While this is only in place for 30 days, we cannot be confident that the ban will be lifted before our conference. This means that many of our attendees may not be able to travel to New York in April.