Information on COVID-19

COVID-19

/updates for attendees

March 20th, 2020

Hello all,

Thank you for your patience. The rapidly evolving nature and conflicting information from the college have made it hard for us to commit to a plan, however, we have made the decision to move the event fully online on our Discord server/Twitch. We are in the works of developing an in-person "Waffle Games 3.5" for the summer if the situation improves, and would love to see you all involved with that once we're on the other side of all this. However, I think it's important now more than ever to keep running events and providing resources for our communities in whatever way we can, which is why we will be continuing virtually. We will be postponing until April 24th in order for our schedule to be reworked and for our exhibitors and speakers to prepare to virtualize their content.

Please join our Discord at https://discord.gg/egdc for the latest updates, and to join the conference!

Please refer to the following resources for updates about COVID-19:
New York State Department of Health

CUNY’s Health and Wellness Services

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

World Health Organization

Mihi Cura Ludos Futuri Forever,

Kyra Wills-Umdenstock

Waffle Games Event Director & CEO of the EGD Collective

March 1st, 2020

Hello all,

With the recent postponement of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, I wanted to take the time to reach out to update all of you on the status of Waffle Games. While there is no way to predict what the situation will look like come April, at this point in time our event is taking place as scheduled.

We are following the news on local and national public health closely, as well as maintaining an active dialogue with Hunter College Public Safety. Dependent on local and national health guidelines, our plan consists of implementing increased sanitary measures:

- Health signage displayed during the event, and messaging sent out to attendees

- Specific policies regarding hygiene and sanitization
- Increased availability of disinfectants

- Strengthened medical surveillance and support

We strongly urge our exhibitors, volunteers, and attendees to refer to the guidelines and protocols as suggested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local/national public health authorities regarding the virus. If you are feeling unwell, please reconsider attending the event.

Most of our attendees, volunteers, and exhibitors are from the tri-state area. As of today (2/29/2020), there are no diagnoses in these states, and the risk to New Yorkers of contracting the coronavirus is low. If you have any specific questions about Waffle Games and COVID-19, please contact us. If you are feeling anxious or worried about friends and family because of the news about coronavirus, Take This has a variety of resources to help you through the present moment and the uncertainty of the future. We also encourage all CUNY students to contact Counseling and Health Services.

MORE INFORMATION:

The CDC’s standard recommendations for the general public to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19 are as follows, which include hand and respiratory hygiene:

- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.

- Stay home when you are sick.

- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.