Convention Center Map

KDD made history in 2020. It was planned to be held in the San Diego Convention Center in an environment that would attract a large number of participants, companies to an attractive location. The program planners also made a concerted effort to broaden the intellectual scope of the forum as well as participation by diverse communities. In particular, the conference planned for offering complimentary full-time daycare to enable participation by women and parents with young children. The emergence of COVID-19 disease in March, however, caused considerable uncertainty leading to a final determination for a first-ever entirely virtual conference. This shift was dramatic at multiple levels since KDD is more than a meeting of presenters and their audience. It is also a place for demonstrations, chance encounters and a very engaging floor exhibition with its own ongoing events. Without exhibitors, their sponsors, and missing attendees, KDD won't be KDD. And it will also have a significant financial liability to the conference for the event contracts already in place. With significant cooperation from ACM and support from SIGKDD Executive Committee the team not only avoided financial impact but emerged with a net positive financial outcome even after reducing the registration fees by over 80%.

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Infection Prevention Considerations for a Multi-Mission Convention Center Field Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness ◽

10.1017/dmp.2021.210 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Jennifer A. Jones ◽

Zishan K. Siddiqui ◽

Charles Callahan ◽

Surbhi Leekha ◽

Sharon Smyth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Infection Prevention ◽

Diagnostic Testing ◽

The United States ◽

Infection Prevention And Control ◽

Field Hospital ◽

First Case ◽

Convention Center ◽

Set Up ◽

And Control

Abstract The state of Maryland identified its first case of COVID-19 on March 5, 2020. The Baltimore Convention Center (BCCFH) quickly became a selected location to set up a 250-bed inpatient Field Hospital and Alternate Care Site. In contrast to other field hospitals throughout the United States, the BCCFH remained open throughout the pandemic and took on additional COVID-19 missions, including community SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing, monoclonal antibody infusions for COVID-19 outpatients, and community COVID-19 vaccinations. At the time of publication, the BCCFH had cared for 1,478 COVID-19 inpatients, performed 108,155 COVID-19 tests, infused 2,166 COVID-19 patients, and administered 115,169 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. To prevent the spread of pathogens during operations, infection prevention and control guidelines were essential to ensure the safety of staff and patients. Through multi-agency collaboration, utilization of infection prevention best practices, and answering what we describe as “PPE-ESP”, an operational framework was established to reduce infection risks for those providing or receiving care at the BCCFH during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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