Is it normal in Germany to still be cancelling large events due to Covid? That certainly isn't the case in the UK and hasn't been for some time.
Very likely the go/nogo point to commit to large expenses (eg venue hire) is now and these would not be refundable. Yet participants would expect to be refunded.
Any financial reserves would already be strained by now. Making it a risk for the survival of the organization if it would have to be cancelled again.
And IMO an event with forced masks or other heavy-handed measures would not be worth it. And Germany is very quick to go for mandatory measures compared to other countries.
Other years there were colds... The usual... But the 2019 edition was real nasty.
I think the "Seuche" in Congress-Seuche falls somewhere in between. I can attest that at least Congress-Seuche has been in use in the past, somewhat analogous to the annual "Wiesnseuche" flu wave in Munich during and after the Oktoberfest.
It might have been this article, the earliest (relevant) mention of pneumonia cases I could find: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21926713
My dream would be ICC Berlin with it's spectacular architecture, it's also huge. The only drawback is that it's currently standing empty with no plans for it's future.
Moving into winter, the general situation can change and many people are expecting more strict regulations.
And then there’s the question of community and personal assessments. C3 is an event run by a community that tends to be note cautious with respect to risks. And, as the announcement says, "[w]hat might be possible would not be a Congress".
Basically, if a state parliament identifies a "concrete danger for the functioning of the health care system", they can impose certain additional measures. For instance "hygiene concepts" for events may be required, next to obligatory mask wearing and social distancing.
https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus...
https://www.zeit.de/wissen/aktuelle-corona-zahlen-karte-deut...
My personal take from this was a) FFP2 masks work - I strictly wore one indoors and didn't get sick b) things are not back to normal, despite what some people say. I don't remember this many people getting sick after an event before Covid.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You don't know if the attendees were vaccinated. You don't know if/how they tested. When I got vaccinated, and also when there wasn't a wave, I got more lax. It requires focus and attention span to follow the precautions. Except for vaccination. That's a shot, perhaps some side effects, and you're good to go for a while. Masks have more adverse side effects. And I say that as someone who has a needle phobia, got vaccinated multiple times, but also who wears glasses and prefers the fresh air over the mask (nausea).
I've also done self-tests which, in start turned out nothing, and then once it onset (I already felt ill) suddenly bingo.
> My personal take from this was a) FFP2 masks work
> I strictly wore one indoors and didn't get sick
N=1
Masks primary role is to ensure you don't spread COVID, not that you don't contract it.
The more plausible explanations that you don't got COVID is that you were a) lucky b) vaccinated c) used more precautions like social distancing / didn't frolic around the crazy 'social' people who YOLO.
With masks it requires cooperation in order for it to work. It doesn't work like a condom: put one on, be protected. Everyone puts one on (a good one, as you asserted, though even a mediocre one is 'Good Enough') and then the chance it gets spread is minimal.
Not true for FFP2s, N95s, and the likes. Which are more common in Germany than in most other places.
Masks, which can be loose fitting and have lower filtration performance, are where you really need everyone wearing them since they perform best as source control. But for those who want to be more cautious, wearing a N95 class "mask" (FFR) even if others around you are not masking is still highly effective.
How you got to/from the conference is also a huge factor. Spending a lot of time in packed airplanes and crowded international terminals are probably at least as big a risk factor as the conference itself.
Great! So if people are still afraid of catching COVID, they can just protect themselves with the masks. Problem solved.
In contrast to others, who act completely surprised, when the predictions come true.
We can't always keep walking on our toes because something might happen.
Europe is ahead, as usual, with new Covid variants, so the CCC is adequately prudent.
While in the UK for political reasons covid is regarded as "over", in many other countries... Restrictions are highly likely to come back over the winter if the health systems come under pressure.
Germany is (sadly) not running a China-style Zero Covid plan.
Especially considering the chaos congress was, even before covid, known for the "hacker pest", a type of flu that pretty much every attendee would contract due to bringing together so many people from different regions for a week (also known as cccebola). The organizers want to avoid the same occuring with BA.5 or an even newer Covid variant.
Assuming sarcasm
Having a 2 to 3 week lockdown every few months would be far preferable over the current situation where you constantly have to be on the lookout yourself and will still get infected anyway, resulting in weeks of being unable to work due to long covid.
If you've had long covid, even when vaccinated (as in my case), you'll realize why stricter measures are so important.
Most local ccc chapters, e.g., Chaosdorf, still enforce a strict vaccination + daily tests + FFP2 masks rule for their spaces, for the same reasons.
One of the major features of the chaos congress was that it was purely run by volunteers, including the emergency response team. And pretty much no one with that knowledge would support an event like the congress in the current pandemic situation.