While nearly every single comic, anime and furry convention has been indefinitely postponed or canceled due to the spread of the deadly #coronavirus, one very irresponsible convention’s management decided to hold theirs anyway: #AnimeDallas. We were, to say the least, utterly shocked that anyone would proceed with a crowded convention in an indoor-space in the midst of a pandemic responsible for (at the time that this blog post was written) the deaths of just under 284,000 Americans and nearly 15-million infections in the U.S. alone. Dallas County (where “Anime Dallas” is held) is under a red level warning risk: restaurants have been required to reduce capacity and bars were closed after more than 15% of local hospital beds were filled with COVID-19 patients for more than seven straight days. However, none of that stopped “Anime Dallas” from holding its annual convention last weekend under mandatory safety requirements.
Despite being a community based local convention, the people who organized “Anime Dallas” didn’t care much about the health and well-being of their local community. Both statistically and because several staff member’s recent exposure to positive cases means that “Anime Dallas” attendees were likely exposed over the weekend. As for the “Anime Dallas” management, they are dug their heels in and defended their choice to go ahead with the con.
In total disregard to established CDC COVID-19 recommendations to minimize the size of social gatherings, the convention states that they had approximately 700-800 attendees this last weekend; and in according to some statistical models, a gathering of that size has more than a 99% chance of having at least one person in attendance with COVID-19. Texas has seen more than 23,000 COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic began, with over 1600 of them within Dallas County alone. Approximately 1 in 30 Texans have tested positive for the virus since it began in March, and hospitals are near capacity.
The CDC’s guiding principles for gatherings are as follows:
- A gathering refers to a planned or spontaneous event, indoors or outdoors, with a small number of people participating or a large number of people in attendance such as a community event or gathering, concert, festival, conference, parade, wedding, or sporting event.
- The more people an individual interacts with at a gathering and the longer that interaction lasts, the higher the potential risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 and COVID-19 spreading.
- The higher the level of community transmission in the area that the gathering is being held, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spreading during a gathering.
The risk of COVID-19 spreading at events and gatherings increases as follows:
- Lowest risk: Virtual-only activities, events, and gatherings.
- More risk: Smaller outdoor and in-person gatherings in which individuals from different households remain spaced at least 6 feet apart, wear masks, do not share objects, and come from the same local area (e.g., community, town, city, or county).
- Higher risk: Medium-sized in-person gatherings that are adapted to allow individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and with attendees coming from outside the local area.
- Highest risk: Large in-person gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and attendees travel from outside the local area.
The Anime News Network also reported that the president of the “Anime Dallas” convention, John Swasey (who is the man responsible for proceeding with the convention) had been exposed to COVID-19 on Nov. 26, 2020; but claimed that he’d tested negative for the disease 3 days later on Nov. 29, 2020. The test that he used, however, has a 67% false-negative detection rate at 3 days after exposure; and in total disregard to all medical and CDC quarantine guidelines, attended the convention (along with his daughter who was also exposed).
Individuals have criticized the decision to hold the “Anime Dallas” event over the weekend in the midst of the ongoing pandemic and the spike in cases in Texas and throughout the United States. According to The New York Times, Texas had a 22% rise in reported COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks. There were an estimated 221 new coronavirus deaths and 11,098 new cases reported in Texas on December 5, with an average of 14,162 cases per day. Dallas is currently classified as a trauma service area by the state. For the last week, COVID-19 patients account for 15 percent or more of Dallas area hospital capacity.
“As of Sunday morning, there have been at least 1,333,809 cases and 23,111 deaths in Texas since the beginning of the pandemic,” according to a New York Times database. Dallas County is currently third highest in total cases within Texas.
Multiple planned guests pulled out of the convention leading up to Dec. 4, 2020. Brittany Karbowski, Ry McKeand, Austin Tindle, and Freddie Heinz cancelled appearances for the event. Voice actress Luci Christian was listed as a board member for the con but wrote on Twitter that she advised staff to postpone the event. Following the decision to go forward with Anime Dallas, Christian and voice actor David Wald pulled out of the event and asked to be removed from the convention’s board.
Our only advice to anyone who attended “Anime Dallas” or who has been in close contact with someone who did needs to be tested and be in self-quarantine.
References
Costuming, Cosplay & Costume Clubs 101 