COVID 19 Precautions at CSRF Waterloo 2022

COVID-19 remains contagious and with high rates circulating throughout Canada. We acknowledge that there is inherent risk in both travel and congregating in public spaces given this circumstance. We at CSRF remind our attendees that by travelling to and attending our annual meeting, there is risk of COVID 19 exposure.

Detailed below are the precautions the Delta Waterloo hotel as well as CSRF’s conference committee has implemented to reduce guests’ risk.

Delta Waterloo’s Precautions

  • Both the conference spaces and guest rooms are equipped with air filtration, rather than simply recirculated air

  • The hotel will be placing extra HEPA filters in the conference spaces

  • Staff adhere to regular hand sanitization practices

  • Sanitation stations are provided throughout the hotel and in the conference space

  • Any shared utensils in buffet-style meals are replaced by sanitized utensils every 20 minutes at maximum (see below for more precautions re: meals)

  • While masks are not longer mandated in Ontario, we have requested to the hotel that the staff consider wearing a mask while interacting with conference attendees. The event manager will make this request, and we hope that many hotel staff will agree.

CSRF Program Committee’s Precautions

  • We require all conference attendees and volunteers to wear a mask (preferably medical grade or N-95) over their mouth and nose throughout the conference while not eating or drinking.

  • We will provide at least two rectangular tables near the back of the conference room so for a limited number of attendees preferring more physical distance than the 10-person round tables allow

  • The majority of our meal offerings will be buffet-style.

    • We will keep the buffets open for 90 minutes in case any attendees prefer to wait for the crowds to dissipate before getting their meal

    • We will put tape markers at 6’ intervals in the buffet line-up as a visual reminder to physical distance while getting your meal

    • A volunteer will dispense hand sanitizer to each attendee as they approach the first table of the buffet

  • While we have a limited amount of space in which to host the poster session, we will maximize the distance between poster rows

    • The session will have one hour of odd-numbered posters presented, followed by an hour of even-numbers posters to reduce the space between active presenters during the session