Announcements

Dear Colleagues,

Like you, the AFP Greater Los Angeles Chapter is closely monitoring the latest developments around COVID-19/novel coronavirus.  I wanted to take this opportunity to personally reach out to our loyal members and supporters to address the current situation and our chapter’s response.

Please be assured that the AFP-GLAC is committed to the health and safety of all of our constituents as well as the larger Greater Los Angeles community. You are our top priority. 

You may have seen recent guidance from the Los Angeles Public Health Department about large gatherings of people, specifically the LA Marathon coming up:

“We are not currently recommending the suspension of any large public events, including the LA Marathon,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “The public can continue to enjoy all that LA County has to offer, including this historic event. However, we do want people to take enhanced measures to protect themselves from the spread of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19; this includes staying home if you are sick and frequently washing your hands.”

Business continues as usual for AFP-GLAC and all events are still scheduled to operate as planned.

To ensure the health and safety not just of our members, but the larger community, our chapter is implementing the following changes, effective immediately:

1. Monthly luncheons and other planned events will continue as planned, but we encourage all members to enjoy a “handshake free” experience.
    
2. We will avoid communal food service as much as possible.
   
   • At events that provide food, such as monthly luncheons, we will provide individually packaged meals. Condiments and dressings will be individually packaged for service.
      
   • We will not provide communal water jugs or pitchers. At events without hands free water stations, we will provide a limited amount of bottled water. We encourage everyone to bring their own filled reusable water bottle to all AFP-GLAC events.
      
   • To avoid cross contamination from communal coffee pots, we will not provide coffee or tea service until further notice.
     
3. We advise all attendees to wash their hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water, especially before eating. We will also have a multitude of hand sanitizers available for use.
    
4. We insist that anyone who is sick stay home instead of attending an event.   
    
   

We are aware that some local conferences have been canceled, but these conferences had much larger expected attendance than anything conducted by the AFP-GLAC Chapter. 

AFP Global - AFP International Conference (ICON) is still proceeding as planned in Baltimore from March 29 to March 31. Please check the AFP Global website for future updates.

We also ask for all to remain informed by official sources including CDC.gov, PublicHealth.LACounty.gov, and LAMayor.org/Coronavirus.