FIRST is aware of concerns surrounding Zika and are providing updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the local CVB.
One of the primary considerations of FIRST in organizing our events is the safety of our attendees. As part of this concern, we wanted to share some information with our members and conference attendees on the Zika virus, which according to CDC information is being spread to people by mosquitoes in Puerto Rico. The FIRST Annual Conference in June of 2017 is organized in Puerto Rico.
The FIRST Board of Directors has been carefully monitoring, and has engaged with both local officials and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to understand the impact on our event attendees in Puerto Rico.
We wanted to share the latest information we received from these organizations with our membership. The CDC has published a fact sheet on Puerto Rico here and to most individuals has a number of recommendations. This includes, but is not limited to, avoiding mosquito bites:
CDC has additional specific recommendations for women who are pregnant, who are trying to become pregnant, or those who have traveled to Puerto Rico and have a pregnant partner. Some of these recommendations may include to defer travel. We highly recommend reviewing them in detail should you be in any of these situations.
In addition, Meet Puerto Rico, the local convention bureau, also made available the attached helpful infographic.
We recognize that the decision to participate in an event in a Zika affected area is a personal one, and we hope this information helps address some questions and concerns. The board and our conference team remains available for any input and or questions via first-2017@first.org.
