Dear NABJ Members and Event Attendees,

We are monitoring coronavirus developments as it relates to our regional conferences and our annual convention in Washington, D.C., scheduled for early July.We are going full steam ahead with regional conferences and with plans for what promises to be another historic joint convention with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. It is going to be EXCITING!

We will adjust our conference plans as developments dictate changes. Although there are competing viewpoints, as you may know, some health care officials say they expect a dramatic downward trend of coronavirus cases as the weather gets warmer consistent with the annual flu season. Others say it is too early to tell if warmer temperatures in July will result in a reduction in cases because not enough is known at this point about this strain of coronavirus.

Either way, we are certainly going to comply with health officials and the hotel if they call for shutting down the facility and convention because of a high-risk threat to our members and guests. There is no sign of that action at this point.

We will be taking precautions at our conference. We will have multiple “sanitation stations” throughout the facility. We will also insert hand sanitizer in all convention bags and include reminders from the health care industry on how to protect against such infections and how you can do your part to make sure these ailments are not spread. Although most people certainly know all of the prevention tips, it doesn’t hurt to remind everyone about these tips as they get excited during convention engagement. Of course, we strongly encourage anyone with the flu, flu-like symptoms, etc., to meet us at next year’s convention in Houston!

The bottom line is at this point we fully expect to continue with our convention and conference activities.We are still trending toward record attendance. If anything changes, we will let you know. See you in D.C.!

Drew Berry

Executive Director