Dear Research Colleagues -
The global health situation involving the novel coronavirus
outbreak will affect plans for a number of NBER meetings this spring,
and I am writing to share some guidelines on how we will modify our
usual procedures in light of recent developments. I hope that these
guidelines, which I believe are reasonable and prudent given the
information currently available, will address most of questions that
meeting organizers and participants may raise. Of course, the situation
may change in the coming days and weeks, and if the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) or other organizations provide new recommendations, these
guidelines may change as well.
1. Any NBER meeting that is scheduled to be held in a country that has
been listed on the CDC's Level 3, "Avoid Nonessential Travel" list,
which today includes China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea, will be
postponed or cancelled. The health risk and the chance that the
participants might be quarantined or face other travel disruptions is
low but non-trivial, and it does not seem prudent to take these risks.
NBER encourages participants who have booked travel on their own, rather
than through the NBER's travel agency, for these meetings to seek
refunds where possible. NBER will cover the cost of cancellation or
rebooking fees. Should the CDC declare any locations in the U.S. to be
areas of similarly high exposure risk, we will follow the same policy
with respect to meetings scheduled there. International meetings that
are not in CDC Level 3 nations should be able to proceed as scheduled,
unless there are recommendations to the contrary from local authorities
or a change in the CDC's recommendations. For non-Level 3 country
meetings, however, organizers should work with local hosts to determine
the best course of action and inform participants as soon as possible.
2. For meetings in the U.S., we will proceed with our announced
schedule of activities. If the situation in the U.S. deteriorates, we
may need to cancel meetings later this spring -- but we will not take
such action until there is clearer public health guidance to this
effect. The NBER conference department will encourage those who have
been invited to meetings to delay booking travel pending further
clarification of the status of upcoming meetings. Organizers who are
selecting papers for upcoming meetings should be mindful of travel bans
and potential travel disruptions for international participants, and
should not schedule papers or presentations that would require
researchers from any CDC Level 3 countries to attend.
3. For meetings that are proceeding, in the U.S. or elsewhere, we will
ask any invited invited participant who has visited a CDC Level 3
country within the last 14 days, or who has any reason otherwise to
suspect that he or she may have been exposed to the coronavirus, to
refrain from attending. Many universities have promulgated policies
that require travelers who have been to Level 3 countries to register
with the university health service, and in some cases to receive
clearance from health services before participating in university
activities. NBER does not have any infrastructure to make such
determinations, so we need a broad and easy-to-follow policy. The NBER
will offer invited meeting participants who cannot attend an opportunity
to listen to a livestreamed version of the meeting. In the case of
authors or discussants who cannot attend the meeting because of
potential virus exposure, we will make provisions for a video link to
accommodate their presentation.
These guidelines will be re-evaluated on an ongoing basis as
further information becomes available. Thank you very much for
following them and for helping to ensure that we can proceed with as
many of our meetings as possible while not endangering the health of
conference participants. I welcome suggestions regarding these
guidelines -- all best wishes.
Jim Poterba
--
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Received on Tue Mar 03 2020 - 15:56:44 EST
