Anyone else have conferences/travel plans/funding cancelled?

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NITRAS said:
Why? Testing centers aren’t exactly a place for people to mingle.

The travel cancelations is probably 99% companies seizing an opportunity to not spend money on CE and CME which is a part of people’s compensations.
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NITRAS said:
There is reason. The reasons may not be public health.
Hospitals and such need licensed people to work. You can get CME at places other than conferences for much cheaper.
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Add Cal to the closures...as we're just around the corner from Berkeley I can't imagine my institution will stay open much longer.

news.berkeley.edu

As coronavirus spreads, UC Berkeley suspends in-person instruction

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ sent the following message to the campus community on Monday, March 9: Today I am announcing new campus actions designed to help limit coronavirus (COVID-19) risk on campus. There are no confirmed cases on our ...
news.berkeley.edu news.berkeley.edu
 
Listen up, folks! This virus has swept across the globe killing several thousand people over the past 6 weeks...out of 6 billion people world wide. You could get flu symptoms if you get symptomatic at all. You could even die from this (if you are otherwise medically comprised, maybe), or get the influenza, or a fall in the shower if not careful. Yes, let's bankrupt businesses and create panic and paranoia with no regard for base rates, statistics, epidemiology, fatality rates, and behavioral economics.

To answer another poster's question: Yes, "marbles" have been lost!
 
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You can read about the medical research coming out about Covid-19 by using google scholar. Some potential reasons for the level of panic:
1 - Somewhere around 20% of known cases progress to "severe" illness requiring hospitalization. A major concern is that if enough individuals become severely ill within a short period of time, hospitals will be totally overwhelmed.
2 - Some of the cases where individuals have recovered necessitated external oxygenation for several days (imagine an ongoing blood transfusion type process in which a machine oxygenates the blood and pumps it back in because the patient's lungs are shut down).
3 - The amount of viral load appears to matter, as a disproportionate % of hospital staff have become severely ill and died despite being otherwise young and healthy.
4 - This disease's fatality rate appears to be approximately 40x higher than the seasonal flu, with similar rates of infectiousness. Unlike the flu, humans frequently do not develop immunity to coronaviruses post-infection (there are something like 4 viruses that cause a cold, but you get more than 4 colds in your life).
5 - Many individuals who have recovered have suffered organ damage (lung, heart, kidney), and may be more likely to die upon re-infection.
6 - The ability to care for the sick becomes extremely challenging as hospital workers are infected, and those who are not infected are deeply demoralized by caring for their colleagues and watching them die.

It's not my intention to freak anybody out, but complacency is frequently a major (and preventable) risk factor in an emergent infectious disease outbreak such as this. It is likely that daily life will look very different for a lot of people for the foreseeable future, and it behooves us to mentally prepare for that.

Personally, I am losing sleep over this situation as someone who works with individuals who are incarcerated and severely mentally ill. Once this thing gets into jails/prisons/psychiatric hospitals, it could easily become a severe crisis.
 
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While I am not worried about the virus itself, being under 60 in good health, non-smoker, no chronic health conditions. etc. As has been mentioned, efforts to slow the spread are needed now that we're in community transmission territory. I assume many regions are similar to those I've been in, in that in recent years hospital systems have winnowed down the number of beds and emphasized quick discharges. If the rush of new patients who require critical care happens in a short-time window, it will be an unmitigated disaster and many people who would otherwise recover just fine, would die. If we can flatten out that curve, the healthcare system has a better chance of handling it.

So, no, definitely not time to panic, but definitely time to look at smart and pragmatic ways to spread this thing out to become more manageable.
 
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StellaB said:
3 - The amount of viral load appears to matter, as a disproportionate % of hospital staff have become severely ill and died despite being otherwise young and healthy.
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I'm wondering how much of that is viral load vs. being overworked. The majority of young and otherwise healthy workers that died were in China, and there stories of their wearing diapers because they didn't even have time to use the restroom.

I agree with the rest of your points, though. I don't think that we should panic but we also shouldn't downplay this.
 
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cara susanna said:
I'm wondering how much of that is viral load vs. being overworked. The majority of young and otherwise healthy workers that died were in China, and there stories of their wearing diapers because they didn't even have time to use the restroom.

I agree with the rest of your points, though. I don't think that we should panic but we also shouldn't downplay this.
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I agree. The situations in other countries give us some insight into what we might be seeing when it really takes off in (I would guess) about a month. Yes, we always have the flu, but we also have immunity against the flu and flu shots. My biggest concern is hospital systems becoming overwhelmed.

My state is still virus-free but all the surrounding states have infections. It looks like an army slowly closing in on the map.
 
Psycycle said:
I agree. The situations in other countries give us some insight into what we might be seeing when it really takes off in (I would guess) about a month. Yes, we always have the flu, but we also have immunity against the flu and flu shots. My biggest concern is hospital systems becoming overwhelmed.

My state is still virus-free but all the surrounding states have infections. It looks like an army slowly closing in on the map.
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I think the way it’s unfolded in Italy is a good indicator of what we can expect to happen in the US. It’ll be interesting to see how the movement of universities in California to go to remote teaching impacts (or doesn’t) the spread.
 
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Our VA has cancelled all non-essential employee travel for the next 60 days.
 
Just got an email from AACN (American Academy of Neuropsychology) re: their upcoming conference in June. They are not cancelling for now but are continuing to monitor. I suspect that if things continue to spiral out of control they will follow suit.
 
WisNeuro said:
AACN is only canceling that conference if DC enacts restrictions on large gatherings.
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Our big conference (ABAI) is also in DC around the same time. Still not cancelled but they are “closely monitoring the situation.” My guess is they will cancel, know they will, and are just trying to figure out details as to how.

My daughter is home this week for spring break and we just got the “don’t come back for at least a few more weeks email.”

Today I removed all porous materials (towels and wash clothes, foam rockets, doll clothes, etc.) from my testing kits, leaving only stuff that can be easily sprayed or wiped down or submersed in water. I’m pretty good about cleaning stuff after each client (and they ALL have runny noses and sneeze/cough without covering their mouths), but this win just make it easier and safer. Also- Play Doh will now being single use!
 
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WisNeuro said:
AACN is only canceling that conference if DC enacts restrictions on large gatherings.
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I’m presenting a poster but haven’t bought my plane tickets or registered for the conference yet...not sure how long I should wait...hm.
 
Note that American is a bit more of a PITA. I had to call 3 times and email once to finally get credited for a change. I'd book one of the others if you can.

I cannot believe the conference I was planning to attend is forging ahead. I literally do not know a single person going. I am preparing an audio recording of one talk that I suspect will be played to an empty room.
 
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Welp, my department is moving dissertation defenses and such to virtual means... This is going to be an interesting way to defend.
 
Just had a state conference (Early Intervention Providers Consortium) pause registration while they "re-evaluated" the concerns. Big question is do I still prepare my presentation?

One more state conference and the national conference to go, I suddenly have a bit less to do over the next few months.

We should do an online SDN conference where all of us who have had talks cancelled with present our work to the discerning masses hereabouts. We could wear masks to protect our identity (assuming there are any masks of any type left to buy!)
 
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My spouse works in a setting in which someone was just sent out for Covid-19 testing. It is definitely spreading through my community, but with few people actually being tested right now.
 
We are also now looking at temporarily closing all "non-essential" human subjects research, which virtually all psychological research would likely fall under (they basically just want to keep chemo RCTs and the like going). Allegedly UCSF just made the decision to do so a couple hours ago.

Interesting times right now.
 
Several institutions in my state have recently announced moving classes online following Spring break (mine included).
 
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive in Australia and the NBA suspends season until further notice after player tested positive. Among other recent closures/cancellations.
 
MAClinician said:
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive in Australia and the NBA suspends season until further notice after player tested positive. Among other recent closures/cancellations.
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By Grabthar's hammer, nothing better happen to Tom Hanks.....
 
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Ollie123 said:
We are also now looking at temporarily closing all "non-essential" human subjects research, which virtually all psychological research would likely fall under (they basically just want to keep chemo RCTs and the like going). Allegedly UCSF just made the decision to do so a couple hours ago.

Interesting times right now.
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We're currently allowed to continue if we can conduct the trial with no in person study visits or in very limited circumstances otherwise.
 
Our university closed and is moving to all online class instruction for an indeterminate amount of time. I'm trying to figure out how to move my grad seminar to an online format. A 2.5 hour Zoom/Skype session with 15 people sounds awful. Anyone have any suggestions/taught/taken online clinical psych electives?
 
PsychPhDStudent said:
We're currently allowed to continue if we can conduct the trial with no in person study visits or in very limited circumstances otherwise.
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We're still fully up and running at the moment, but clearly getting ready for a shutdown. So few studies can actually be done without in-person visits...I'd guess its < 1% of the total research portfolio here (and virtually none of the large-scale/high-dollar projects). I think the center I am in has one mturk study we're running to get pilot data for an upcoming grant app and one qual study where we could in theory do the interviews by phone? Rest all require in-person visits for at least portions of the protocol (imaging, physical exams, blood draws, etc.). We're having a debate right now about whether its better to move to tele-therapy visits for behavioral interventions or halt recruitment.
 
syzergy said:
Our university closed and is moving to all online class instruction for an indeterminate amount of time. I'm trying to figure out how to move my grad seminar to an online format. A 2.5 hour Zoom/Skype session with 15 people sounds awful. Anyone have any suggestions/taught/taken online clinical psych electives?
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I’m sort of in the same boat. I am transitioning my class as we speak. Next week I will be doing non-live lectures and I set up a discussion thread in my online platform for participation, and the following week I will be trying to meet at the usual time with zoom.

The trickiest part for my class is we have group presentations staggered throughout the semester and I’m not sure how to handle them at this point.

It’s definitely harder to navigate some of these aspects when you’re used to in-person instruction and then suddenly told you have a just a few days to switch over completely. It’s requiring quite an overhaul of my course policies/methods.
 
Colleague informed me that a conference she was supposed to attend in a few weeks has been cancelled.
 
Meanwhile, my conference carries on just a couple blocks from where some of the earliest cases in the now rapidly-escalating # of cases in New Orleans were detected.
 
mypointlesspov said:
Welp, my department is moving dissertation defenses and such to virtual means... This is going to be an interesting way to defend.
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At least no one will feel pressured to bring pastries and coffee.
 
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mypointlesspov said:
Welp, my department is moving dissertation defenses and such to virtual means... This is going to be an interesting way to defend.
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Am I the only one who wonders why this hasn't always been the norm? Especially in cases where the dissertation is finished while the student is away on internship or shortly after. What is the purpose of requiring all the expensive travel for an in person meeting when virtual means are an option?


Regarding all the cancels and such I'm glad to know my conference in early May is still happening, but I'm expecting extra sanitation precautions. My University is broke and thus slashed travel funding for students last semester so I already booked everything as cheaply as possible.
 
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Spydra said:
Am I the only one who wonders why this hasn't always been the norm? Especially in cases where the dissertation is finished while the student is away on internship or shortly after. What is the purpose of requiring all the expensive travel for an in person meeting when virtual means are an option?


Regarding all the cancels and such I'm glad to know my conference in early May is still happening, but I'm expecting extra sanitation precautions. My University is broke and thus slashed travel funding for students last semester so I already booked everything as cheaply as possible.
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AirBNB is offering refunds or rebookings right now. If anyone had travel plans through them. Most major airlines have also loosened their refund/rebooking policies.
 
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Flying Southwest whenever possible can def help w conference trips bc of their great cancellation policy and liberal checked bag/item policy. Hopefully all airlines are flexible for the next 3-4+ months, but it's good to keep in mind for down the road.
 
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I wasn't gonna go this year, but ISSS (in June) was cancelled.
 
Therapist4Chnge said:
Flying Southwest whenever possible can def help w conference trips bc of their great cancellation policy and liberal checked bag/item policy. Hopefully all airlines are flexible for the next 3-4+ months, but it's good to keep in mind for down the road.
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Except they seem to be struggling with refunding my early bird check in fees.
 
APS (in late May) has not been canceled yet. Interesting how this one will play out.
 
The Sports Neuropsych Society conference that was scheduled for late April got postponed to July - interesting to see if any of the speakers end up cancelling their presentations because of scheduling conflicts that may arise in July.
 
ISTSS sent out an email that they're continuing for now (in all fairness, the conference is this fall) but will monitor the situation accordingly.
 
Not a conference, but I anticipate this impacting a lot of our graduations. The CDC recommendation of no gatherings over 50 people for the next 8 weeks brings us right up to graduation season. I imagine that we'll be hearing about canceled commencements very shortly. :-(
 
Seven_Costanza said:
Not a conference, but I anticipate this impacting a lot of our graduations. The CDC recommendation of no gatherings over 50 people for the next 8 weeks brings us right up to graduation season. I imagine that we'll be hearing about canceled commencements very shortly. :-(
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Yup, these announcements have started rolling out.
 
futureapppsy2 said:
On the flip side, ABAI seems to be very openly sticking to its guns re: *not* cancelling its big annual conference (May 21-25 in DC). Is that your read, too, @ClinicalABA ?
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I don’t understand how this aligns with their position that they are following CDC guidelines. Unless they think things will rapidly improve and/or only have 50 attendees?
 
futureapppsy2 said:
On the flip side, ABAI seems to be very openly sticking to its guns re: *not* cancelling its big annual conference (May 21-25 in DC). Is that your read, too, @ClinicalABA ?
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MassABA just cancelled for early May. BCBA has cancelled some test administrations. I can’t imagine ABAI really thinks the conference will happen. I think they might be waiting for the decision to be taken out of their hands, or at least to develop a more solid plan for what to do about all the missed CEUs. I’m certainly not going register and make travel plans (even if I was just going to drive).
 
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