“On September 1, 2022, CDC recommended updated COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 years and older and from Moderna for people ages 18 years and older.”
On August 11, 2021, the CDC has streamlined Covid-19 guidance to help the public better protect themselves and understand their risk. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0811-covid-guidance.html This release has more to do with individuals and how to protect themselves than with how businesses can protect their patrons.
The CDC currently has two separate maps to follow, they are community levels and transmission levels for the state and country. The maps are now part of the same page on the CDC’s website which can make things confusing for the public. The two maps are the “Covid 19 Community Levels” map and the “Community Transmissions” map. The “Covid 19 Community Levels” map is to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. According to this new tool, currently, all the counties in Arizona are Community Level: Low except for Mohave County which is Medium, and Navajo and Apache Counties which are High.
The “COVID-19 Integrated County View Community Transmission” map shows the actual community transmission levels of Covid in each county in each state. According to the “COVID-19 Integrated County View” map currently, all of Arizona is at high Covid transmission except for Graham and Greenlee which are substantial transmission and La Paz which is at moderate transmission. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=&data-type=Risk
Influenza cases are also increasing in the country. Currently, Arizona is experiencing Low cases of the flu. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm
The country also has a new weapon in the fight against Covid-19, the bivalent booster.
We, at Monkey Paw Entertainment, have been watching a combination of the community levels and transmission levels along with the percentages of the new bivalent booster to make our final decision on whether we will have a 100% mask mandate or make masks recommended. We have decided for Con Nichiwa 2022 to have masks be strongly recommended but not required due to the Low Covid Community Levels in most of Arizona and the low levels of influenza transmissions in all of Arizona.
If you have any concerns about Covid-19 or the flu during the show, please wear a mask. Also, please wash your hands regularly with soap and water. If you fill ill, please stay home.
If you choose to not attend this year due to our Covid-19 policy, we will be allowing anyone after the show ends to request their badge be rolled to 2023 if you didn’t use it this year. All you will need to do is email sales@monkey-paw.com after November 22nd, 2022, with the email you used to purchase your badge and request your purchases be rolled to our 2023 event.
If you have questions or comments on this policy, please email safety@monkey-paw.com
ref:
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0811-covid-guidance.html