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Corona Virus And Pen Show Exhibits


pen lady

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Not to be an alarmist, but as I'll be selling pens and Bryan (my sweetie) will have his fountain pen storage boxes for sale at the Atlanta Pen Show next month, other than having a bottle of hand sanitizer on the table, what other precautions should we take? Atlanta, is the home of the CDC, so I thought if anyone has the right idea, it will be those folks - are any CDC staff pen collectors? I don't think wiping down vintage pens with alcohol wipes would be advisable - thoughts anyone?

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I don't think wiping down vintage pens with alcohol wipes would be advisable - thoughts anyone?

... baby wipes?

... and a box full of gloves?

all välgång
Alexander W.–G.

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Hmmmmmm, we'd thought of gloves too, but I'm not sure that baby wipes are antiseptic. Good thought though, thanks.

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Oh no, it's not me that I'm worried about, but someone holding a pen that's been touched by another pen show attendee who is carrying something nasty on their hands. My concern is for my customers.

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EDIT: sorry, just re-read your post and saw that you're already doing this.

Edited by dennis_f
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Hi PenLady,

 

The only bit of advice I can offer is to check your contract; make sure that if the event is canceled, that you'll get your money back. You would think that would go without saying, but you'd be surprised how the boilerplate in some contracts can claim all but your firstborn son. :D

 

If you're ensured of that, then I think you have it pretty well covered with an anti-viral hand sanitizer. Gloves are going to be cumbersome and they'll produce a lot of unnecessary garbage.

 

As long as your health (and your sweetie's) respiratory/immune health isn't compromised in any way, you should be okay. Enjoy the experience. :)

 

Sean :)

https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

 

"Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven." - MT. 10:32

"Any society that will give up liberty to gain security deserves neither and will lose both." - Ben Franklin

Thank you Our Lady of Prompt Succor & St. Jude.

 

 

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I just learned that Pen Show Poland (Katowice) has been rescheduled from April to September, FWIW.

Hi Ethernautrix,

 

You're reading my mind; hence my post.

 

Sean :)

https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

 

"Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven." - MT. 10:32

"Any society that will give up liberty to gain security deserves neither and will lose both." - Ben Franklin

Thank you Our Lady of Prompt Succor & St. Jude.

 

 

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https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

 

"Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven." - MT. 10:32

"Any society that will give up liberty to gain security deserves neither and will lose both." - Ben Franklin

Thank you Our Lady of Prompt Succor & St. Jude.

 

 

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Hi Ethernautrix,

 

You're reading my mind; hence my post.

 

Sean :)

 

 

Hi Sean

 

Thats a coincidence

 

I went up to a man yesterday and he said 'Yes I can'.

 

I said, 'is it true you can read minds?'

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I would keep a close eye on the outbreak.

 

Many conferences and shows are starting to cancel or reschedule. I was supposed to go to a conference next week, but it was rescheduled to late summer. And truthfully, I had decided not to go anyway. While I am not "self-quarantining" (at least not yet), I am trying avoid being public events if I can avoid it right now. Being older and having a consistently lower white blood count makes me a bit more wary.

"Today will be gone in less than 24 hours. When it is gone, it is gone. Be wise, but enjoy! - anonymous today

 

 

 

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I just learned that Pen Show Poland (Katowice) has been rescheduled from April to September, FWIW.

Hey,

When you have the actual dates in September, please let me know.

Thanks,

Doug

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Hey,

When you have the actual dates in September, please let me know.

Thanks,

Doug

 

I received an information that it will be 5-6 September.

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Hi Sean

 

Thats a coincidence

 

I went up to a man yesterday and he said 'Yes I can'.

 

I said, 'is it true you can read minds?'

:lol:

 

Sean. :)

https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

 

"Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven." - MT. 10:32

"Any society that will give up liberty to gain security deserves neither and will lose both." - Ben Franklin

Thank you Our Lady of Prompt Succor & St. Jude.

 

 

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If I was an organizer, I would consider a few ideas as follows, ranking from least to most intense, adding one to another depending on perceived risk.

 

Posting signs in the restrooms reminding people to wash their hands and for how long,

 

Providing hand sanitizer at the entrance to the show with a sign requesting to use it or to go and wash ones hands.

 

Requiring everyone who attends the show to provide an identification with and indication of a means for them to be contacted and a record be kept, so in the highly unlikely instance of someone being diagnosed who attended the show, they can be contacted by the appropriate authorities and the handing out of cards or a letter detailing what they are to do if they are diagnosed later.

 

Requiring registration of all participants with detailed contact information including home adress and stressing the benefit of preregistration to ensure a record of participants and to impart to them the information they need to contact the show and the proper authorities if they are diagnosed.

 

And, if there are actually some community contact cases in the area that participants are likely to be coming from, providing masks to all the participants, not to protect them from a possible infection source, as that has minimal effect, but rather to protect others from them as a potential infection source: at this point it is believed that persons can be infected and be a carrier without knowing it.

 

The next step, would be a big one, and that would be in addition to all of the above, indicating that admittance would only be by advanced registration and only by people who have not been in places which have put them at risk for having gotten that infection, or who have been tested after possible exposure and are infection free. This would effectively mean no Public Show, though if one had the staff, there could be "instant registration" forms provided online which walk ins could complete and bring to the show to allow for registration at the registration desk. Also, near the registration desk a stack of registration forms could be provided for people to complete.

 

As far as any additional precautions, the only one I can think of is disposable gloves, but as they are very easy to contaminate, especially by untrained people, I do not suggest them as they could create a sense of complacency in regard to hand washing or the use of sanitizer.

 

My last suggestion is if there is uncontrolled community infection within the community that the show is to be held, that the show be postponed. That however likely would be a decision to be made by the local authorities, not the show organizers.

 

These ideas are modeled after the precautions I have experienced in donating blood. Reasonable precautions.

 

I am not a medical professional, nor a specialist in infectious disease, though a long time ago I came very close to becoming a disease intervention specialist, but that was not a path I took in public service.

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The problem with some of your suggestions, Parker51 is that is that while I think they may be good intentioned, they aren't really feasible.

You can't provide hand sanitizer if there isn't any to be had, for instance -- which at the moment is a serious issue, at least around here (and from what I've heard on the news, most hand sanitizers don't do much -- if anything -- against Covid-19 that you can't already get from basic hand washing with soap and water). And since all the shows I've been to have been at hotels, you may have to get permission to post signs about hand washing (which many places have already -- but that won't stop people from ignoring them the same way they ignore signs already posted by the local health department. I was at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show Friday night and a LOT of the vendors in particular were forgetting about the concept of NOT shaking hands with customers). And there was a discussion in my choir about what happens with large events (my husband is going to one next week that normally has about 3K people at it, and several people on the booth staff have already had food sanitation courses and certificates even BEFORE this -- I don't go any more but if I did, I'd have to take the refresher course because my certification has expired).

Some people I suspect will balk about providing contact information (particularly if they are NOT pre-registered) plus, that is just going to make the line to get in longer. And the only other options would be to NOT have a public show at all, or else to reschedule the event entirely -- which may not be feasible at ALL for other reasons (has anyone heard yet about Ohio Pen Show yet, for instance? They're losing the site because the new owners are reportedly tearing the hotel down AND getting out of the convention business altogether). I've seen the mess caused by events shifting the TIMES of activities.... Let alone changing the date of events entirely.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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