Facebook cancels in-person portion of F8 due to Coronavirus

[spking]

This morning I was scoffing at my mother-in-law's suggestion to cancel/postpone our 4-year-old's upcoming birthday party as a precaution. Then I see stuff like this and wonder if she's right.

[Mathnerd314]

I think it's a matter of scale. Since F8 is an international conference there's more of a risk, and they have to make the decision sooner so people can get refunds on their plane flights and hotel rooms.

OTOH a birthday party is unlikely to increase the risk much compared to work/school. In a few months that calculation might look very different though, e.g. Japan closed all its schools. But the US is more spread out so a lot of regions will be protected by their isolation.

[woofie11]

Turning 4 or turning 5? If turning 4, canceling is reasonable. The kid won't really know what a birthday is and won't realize anything is missing or changed. The parties are almost more for the adults.

If turning 5, I'd probably keep it. On the other hand, you can scale back how you do it. The kid won't really know the difference. Besides, at that age, bigger isn't better. More friends is just overwhelming.

[petercooper]

To be fair, children's parties are a hive of disease sharing opportunities.. so even forgetting COVID-19, if you're not really into birthday parties and this give you permission to not have it, I'd take it ;-)

[gdubs]

Maybe skip the bobbing for apples activity, but otherwise I would just keep an eye on things. If they’re still at school, then they’re plenty exposed there — so is a birthday party going to make the difference?

Our daughters’ birthdays are coming up as well, and for now I’m keeping the plans, but am at least preparing in case schools cancel, etc.

FWIW, in response to the other reply, as a parent of 3 children under 6, I can say with recent experience that a birthday can be very important to a three year old (depending on the kid obviously).

[bhouston]

International attendance conferences should be scaled back.

Local birthday parties in cities without community spread are fine.

Once there is community spread if you city, then work from home, no birthday parties, maybe no school, etc.

[smackay]

There might be significant risk for any grandparents attending. All the older members in our extended family are preparing to hunker down for a while.

[sjg007]

If you live in China maybe. Otherwise no.

[throwqwerty]

I have a funny question. I have a FB internship this summer at the Menlo Park office. I know interns get health insurance but if I get Coronavirus while I'm doing the internship will they cover my treatment for the duration? I don't think my University provided health insurance will cover me while I'm in California...

[ahupp]

This is a great question for your recruiter.

[DreamSpinner]

This makes me think of an interesting point around the potential virus outbreak in the US.

If there is a non-trivial outbreak, then could it effectively be (for the US), not just a mass virus management exercise - but be followed by a mass-bankrupting due to medical expenses (which are already a big deal just for "normal" life events)

[lacker]

There should be continuity between your FB-provided health insurance and your university-provided health insurance. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you are worried, by all means ask your recruiter.

[cbhl]

I would suggest double checking the fine print for your university-provided insurance for the period between school ending and your internship starting. And coverage limits -- a hospital stay can get very expensive here.

Also check if your insurance requires you to call them for "pre-approval" in order for treatment to be covered.

If your university is outside of the US (say, Canada), then you may also want to check whether your university provides travel health insurance, or recommends a provider that will sell it to you.

[ghiculescu]

Has anyone been able to get flights to a conference changed / refunded as a result of cancellations like this?

I got an email the other day from the Ruby Kaigi team, they are thinking of cancelling too which means I may have to do something about those flights to Japan I booked :(

[sjg007]

If the airline suspends flights you will get your money back. Apart from that, trip insurance? Maybe your credit card offers it.

[WaltPurvis]

When is the conference? I might wait and see if the airlines cancels your flight--which actually seems fairly likely to happen at this point--in which case your fare would be refunded.

[idlewords]

It depends on the airline. I've gotten no-hassle refunds from Delta and Cathay Pacific in the past ten days.

[AndrewKemendo]

FB/Oculus has been pushing remote events via VR heavily since day one.

Seems like a good opportunity to send each attendee an Oculus Go and do the whole event in VR.

Sure would save a lot of carbon, also.

[dickeytk]

Not sure if you’re serious, but would constructing a device really save carbon vs a round trip flight?

[joezydeco]

Looks like GDC is falling apart as well.

And I was going to book tickets to the Qt conference, I’ve changed my mind on that one.

[ghaff]

Some conferences are going ahead even with highly visible companies/sponsors pulling out. That seems to be the case with GDC at this point though who knows what another week will bring.

[agumonkey]

for once remote video and collab will have first class value