[Moller] Disease detectives gathered at CDC event—a COVID outbreak erupted

[Jay Benesch]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/disease-detectives-gathered-at-cdc-event-a-covid-outbreak-erupted/

Disease detectives with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
are on the case of a new COVID-19 outbreak—the one at their very own 
conference, which has sickened around 35 attendees as of Tuesday.

Last week, the CDC hosted the 2023 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) 
Conference in Atlanta, the first time the conference has been held in 
person since 2019. The annual event, which dates back seven decades, was 
fully virtual last year and was canceled entirely in 2020 and 2021 while 
EIS officers were immersed in the pandemic response.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on everyone and especially for our 
public health workforce. … We are thankful you are back with us at the 
EIS conference," EIS leaders wrote in the preface of this year's 
conference agenda, celebrating the return of the in-person gathering.

But signs of trouble turned up quickly. Several attendees reportedly 
tested positive during the conference, which spanned Monday, April 24 to 
Thursday, April 27, and drew about 2,000 participants. Some told The 
Washington Post that moderators at the conference warned several times 
about positive cases. CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund told Ars in an 
email that EIS leaders noted the cases during the closing session of the 
conference. The conference leaders also canceled an in-person training, 
emailed all officers with current CDC guidance, and offered to extend 
the hotel stays of sick attendees who needed to isolate, according to 
the Post.