An international mining conference attended by more than 23,000 people in Toronto is at the center a new case of coronavirus with the potential for global spread.
A man in his 50s tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the convention, which ran from March 1 to 4. The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada bills its mining convention as the world’s biggest and it was attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Brazilian and Chilean mining officials and visitors from all over the world.
“As we know, that is a massive international conference with many countries represented and many, many individuals there,” Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, medical officer of health at the local health authority in Sudbury, said in a news conference Wednesday.
The northern Ontario city, the center of the country’s nickel-mining industry, is where the unidentified man went to hospital on March 7 after attending PDAC March 2 and 3. Sutcliffe said potentially hundreds of people from Sudbury attended the conference.
Now the race is on to limit the spread.
“Our focus now is on breaking the chain of transmission to limit the spread of infection,” Sutcliffe said in an earlier statement. “As a precautionary measure, we are asking those who attended PDAC 2020 to monitor for symptoms for 14 days.”
This article was from last month, before the conference:
quote:
'Massive petri dish of handshakes and coughs': Toronto’s PDAC mining conference to go on, but hand sanitizer will be flowing Organizers ramping up cleaning and disinfection of things people touch: from door handles, to microphones, to touchscreens
The champagne is on ice and organizers are putting on a brave face, but a whiff of trepidation is building ahead of one of the world’s largest mining conferences.
Tens of thousands of mining executives, investors, and government officials from around the world are about to descend on Toronto on Sunday for the annual convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada — just as the coronavirus threatens to become a pandemic.
“I’ll be bringing extra hand sanitizer but I’m leaving the mask at home,” investor David Stein said in post on LinkedIn, adding he would reduce his participation somewhat this year. With more than 20,000 attendees per year PDAC is a “massive petri dish of handshakes and coughs,” he wrote.
Organizers said the conference will continue as planned — with a rigorous sanitation protocol in place. They will be ramping up cleaning and disinfection of things people touch: from door handles, to microphones, to touchscreens.
That said, most exhibitors from China were forced to pull out because of international travel restrictions, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. “Others are attempting to make alternative arrangements,” Kristy Kenny said by email. “‘At this time, cancellations by individuals and companies have been minimal.”
Sudbury is 7 hours from me, but a local natural gas company sent a bunch of people to the conference. People here are really calm. No shortages. No panic. But we have had lots of messages from companies about their plans. Trudeau is now self quarantined because his wife came in contact with it. I think that sets a good example.
-------------------------------- "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
