Biogen Boston Superspreader Event Tied to 300K+ COVID-19 Cases
December 13, 2020 6:14 PM Subscribe
Biogen Conference in Boston Now Tied to More than 300,000 Coronavirus Cases (NBC, Dec. 11, 2020; latest research paper; NYT link). On February 1, Massachusetts confirmed its first, and the USA's eighth, coronavirus patient (NBC). The Biogen leadership conference, held February 26-27 at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf, drew approximately 175 US and international attendees and was linked to eight cases of COVID-19 on March 6 (STAT News), 100 cases on March 17 (Biospace), and 20K cases by August 26 (TheScientist.com). Biogen has about 7,500 employees around the world.
NY Times, Dec. 11, 2020 (most coronavirus coverage is not paywalled): At the time [Feb. 26, the first day of the conference], only 30 coronavirus infections had been confirmed in the United States, according to data compiled by The New York Times. More than a month earlier, Chinese authorities had quarantined the 11 million residents of Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first detected. But the epidemics that would ravage Europe were still on the horizon; Italy had recorded its first death only days earlier. Some other companies had canceled international meetings out of caution, but Biogen forged ahead, bringing in 175 executives, including officials from Italy, Switzerland and Germany, for its leadership meeting. Within days, some were falling ill.
A Cambridge-based Biogen executive who developed symptoms and sought medical care on February 29 was told a COVID-19 test was not necessary (Boston Globe, March 6, 2020). Biogen notified Massachusetts public health authorities on March 3 to report a cluster of about 50 employees experiencing flu-like symptoms in the U.S. and overseas. The company was told the cases did not meet the criteria for testing. On March 4, Biogen informed the Department of Public Health that two people in Europe who attended the conference had tested positive for COVID-19 (Boston.com, March 11). (Worldwide, COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 has now caused more than fifty million known infections and more than one million reported deaths.)
NBC, Dec. 11, 2020: The two-day Biogen conference at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel is responsible for infecting as many as 330,000 people with COVID-19 worldwide, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science. The spread increased in frequency and was long-lasting, the study's findings show. By Nov. 1, viruses connected to the conference could be found in 29 U.S. states and several countries, including Australia, Slovakia and Sweden. While Massachusetts accounted for most of the early spread related to the gathering, Florida accounted for the greatest proportion of cases overall. Other states with the largest numbers of cases linked to conference participants returning from the meeting include North Carolina and Indiana. [...]
The conference, according to the study, is responsible for roughly 1.9% of all U.S. cases since the pandemic began. The estimates do not account for subsequent transmission of the virus -- there have been 4 million new COVID-19 infections in the US in November. [...] Researchers said the takeaway here is the close relationships between seemingly disconnected groups and populations; it's a lesson in "superspreader" events. Viruses from international business travel related to the Biogen conference in Boston seeded major outbreaks among people experiencing homelessness, spread throughout the Greater Boston area including to other higher risk communities, and were exported to other domestic and international sites, the study's findings revealed.
[Another recent study: The contagion externality of a superspreading event: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID‐19 (Dec. 2, 2020). In this study we examine the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a 10‐day event with dozens of concerts, live performances, races, and bike shows that drew over 460,000 individuals to a city with a population of approximately 7,000 located in a county with a population of approximately 26,000. The Sturgis, South Dakota event was held in August 2020.]
NY Times, Dec. 11, 2020 (most coronavirus coverage is not paywalled): At the time [Feb. 26, the first day of the conference], only 30 coronavirus infections had been confirmed in the United States, according to data compiled by The New York Times. More than a month earlier, Chinese authorities had quarantined the 11 million residents of Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first detected. But the epidemics that would ravage Europe were still on the horizon; Italy had recorded its first death only days earlier. Some other companies had canceled international meetings out of caution, but Biogen forged ahead, bringing in 175 executives, including officials from Italy, Switzerland and Germany, for its leadership meeting. Within days, some were falling ill.
A Cambridge-based Biogen executive who developed symptoms and sought medical care on February 29 was told a COVID-19 test was not necessary (Boston Globe, March 6, 2020). Biogen notified Massachusetts public health authorities on March 3 to report a cluster of about 50 employees experiencing flu-like symptoms in the U.S. and overseas. The company was told the cases did not meet the criteria for testing. On March 4, Biogen informed the Department of Public Health that two people in Europe who attended the conference had tested positive for COVID-19 (Boston.com, March 11). (Worldwide, COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 has now caused more than fifty million known infections and more than one million reported deaths.)
NBC, Dec. 11, 2020: The two-day Biogen conference at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel is responsible for infecting as many as 330,000 people with COVID-19 worldwide, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science. The spread increased in frequency and was long-lasting, the study's findings show. By Nov. 1, viruses connected to the conference could be found in 29 U.S. states and several countries, including Australia, Slovakia and Sweden. While Massachusetts accounted for most of the early spread related to the gathering, Florida accounted for the greatest proportion of cases overall. Other states with the largest numbers of cases linked to conference participants returning from the meeting include North Carolina and Indiana. [...]
The conference, according to the study, is responsible for roughly 1.9% of all U.S. cases since the pandemic began. The estimates do not account for subsequent transmission of the virus -- there have been 4 million new COVID-19 infections in the US in November. [...] Researchers said the takeaway here is the close relationships between seemingly disconnected groups and populations; it's a lesson in "superspreader" events. Viruses from international business travel related to the Biogen conference in Boston seeded major outbreaks among people experiencing homelessness, spread throughout the Greater Boston area including to other higher risk communities, and were exported to other domestic and international sites, the study's findings revealed.
[Another recent study: The contagion externality of a superspreading event: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID‐19 (Dec. 2, 2020). In this study we examine the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a 10‐day event with dozens of concerts, live performances, races, and bike shows that drew over 460,000 individuals to a city with a population of approximately 7,000 located in a county with a population of approximately 26,000. The Sturgis, South Dakota event was held in August 2020.]
Man, I had been to that Marriott several times before that -- meeting family there, having dinner. It's at a prominent place when you're walking from downtown to the North End, as I used to do a lot. Now it's the damnedest thing to think of it as the cholera pump for the 21st century. I remember the dread I felt in the city in early March.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:11 PM on December 13, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 8:11 PM on December 13, 2020 [10 favorites]
The professional organization I've been volunteering at as a grad student/postdoc representative announced last week that we will be holding a virtual conference again in summer 2021. I'm sad--free travel and registration was a big part of why I volunteered for the position!--but while I'm sad, I'm also certain that it's the right call. Biogen is a great object example of why it's better to keep conferences online at least until widespread vaccination is matter of fact.
posted by sciatrix at 8:56 PM on December 13, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by sciatrix at 8:56 PM on December 13, 2020 [6 favorites]
I remember hearing reports of large numbers of prominent people becoming infected with corona in march, famously culminating with Rudy Gobert of Utah Jazz, after which the NBA shut down with teams about to take the court for the night's games. It's not surprising that professions involving large amounts of travel, such as executives and athletes, were among the first to become infected and acted as vectors for spread before mitigation efforts were put in place. Of course, the disease subsequently, and tragically, soon spread to populations much further down the income and social power ladder, where it wreaked its greatest destruction.
From reading pre-prints it seems there are still some loose ends to tie up regarding when corona first emerged in various regions of the world, but from what I can tell its pretty much certain that the disease wasn't widespread in the US at least until February at the earliest. Even then, as we are learning the hard way now, the pandemic didn't really take in some places until the fall. In short, its likely that conferences such as these acted as vectors for much of corona's early spread. I'm sure there were others that we will find in time. The chain of events reminds me of the the early 10's Steven Soderbergh moving Contagion, in which patient zero in the US ended up being a business traveler returning to Minnesota from Hong Kong with a crucial and fateful stopover in Chicago.
If nothing else this will likely end up being the best observed pandemic of a novel pathogen in history, and we will likely learn much about disease spread.
posted by eagles123 at 9:31 PM on December 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
From reading pre-prints it seems there are still some loose ends to tie up regarding when corona first emerged in various regions of the world, but from what I can tell its pretty much certain that the disease wasn't widespread in the US at least until February at the earliest. Even then, as we are learning the hard way now, the pandemic didn't really take in some places until the fall. In short, its likely that conferences such as these acted as vectors for much of corona's early spread. I'm sure there were others that we will find in time. The chain of events reminds me of the the early 10's Steven Soderbergh moving Contagion, in which patient zero in the US ended up being a business traveler returning to Minnesota from Hong Kong with a crucial and fateful stopover in Chicago.
If nothing else this will likely end up being the best observed pandemic of a novel pathogen in history, and we will likely learn much about disease spread.
posted by eagles123 at 9:31 PM on December 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
I went to a con in mid-February and then a yarn conference event (just for the day) in late February and man, does it feel like a dodged bullet now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:39 PM on December 13, 2020 [13 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:39 PM on December 13, 2020 [13 favorites]
Don't forget the Biogen management meeting which led to 108 infections and one of Biogen's executives being arrested in China
Li, 37, a Chinese citizen and permanent Massachusetts resident, had been denied a COVID-19 test in that state, Chinese authorities said. According to local officials, she flew back to Beijing with known symptoms of COVID-19.
According to a representative from Air China, Li took the airline’s CA988 flight from Los Angeles to Beijing on March 12. About an hour after takeoff, Li told the flight attendant she wasn’t feeling well. Though she admitted a brief history of fever the week prior, her temperature at the time proved normal. Still, the attendant moved her to a quarantine zone at the tail of the aircraft.
posted by benzenedream at 10:58 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
Li, 37, a Chinese citizen and permanent Massachusetts resident, had been denied a COVID-19 test in that state, Chinese authorities said. According to local officials, she flew back to Beijing with known symptoms of COVID-19.
According to a representative from Air China, Li took the airline’s CA988 flight from Los Angeles to Beijing on March 12. About an hour after takeoff, Li told the flight attendant she wasn’t feeling well. Though she admitted a brief history of fever the week prior, her temperature at the time proved normal. Still, the attendant moved her to a quarantine zone at the tail of the aircraft.
posted by benzenedream at 10:58 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
^same meeting? "The Beijing government first disclosed Li’s case during a recent coronavirus press briefing. While keeping the identity of her employer under wraps at the time, authorities said she attended a company meeting Feb. 26-27, the exact days Biogen’s 175-person leadership conference took place."
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:12 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:12 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
I really hadn’t understood the contagiousness of this disease until the aftermath of the Biogen conference. That sounds very dumb in retrospect given what had been happening in China. But I hadn’t. I had believed that “close contact” was required and had not understood that that could include sharing air. A friend had been so nervous about her husband traveling in late February and I thought, this is silly, what are the chances he’ll bump shoulders with someone carrying a rare disease? After his conference he got notified that he’d been on the same floor as a case. He never got it, he was fine, but it was definitely a moment of realizing: wow, I have been very wrong about this.
I last traveled in early February, to Denver. I bought a dumb tourist mug so I’d always have water, and there’s this physical artifact in my cupboard reminding me of one of those "lasts" I carry around now, along with last hugs and last parties, the last conference.
posted by eirias at 3:07 AM on December 14, 2020 [8 favorites]
I last traveled in early February, to Denver. I bought a dumb tourist mug so I’d always have water, and there’s this physical artifact in my cupboard reminding me of one of those "lasts" I carry around now, along with last hugs and last parties, the last conference.
posted by eirias at 3:07 AM on December 14, 2020 [8 favorites]
And PAX East was just 1.5 miles away from Long Wharf at the BCEC.
At the time I was working in the Seaport, and all around the office we were joking (before the severity of Covid sunk in and before anything was known about the Biogen conference) about how Penny Arcade was going to kill us all and how stupid it would be for a webcomic to be responsible for spreading the plague.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:20 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
At the time I was working in the Seaport, and all around the office we were joking (before the severity of Covid sunk in and before anything was known about the Biogen conference) about how Penny Arcade was going to kill us all and how stupid it would be for a webcomic to be responsible for spreading the plague.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:20 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Man. I was working a conference in March that was one of the absolute last Before Times events (possibly the last event that hotel ever has; it still hasn't reopened). And we had I think six cases that we disclosed the following week, but I'll always wonder how many that really was. I was sick after, and it probably was just con crud, but it was absolutely impossible to get a test in mid-March unless you could prove you'd, like, licked someone who had just gotten off a plane from China and tested positive. We had no guidance about distancing or masks or ventilation at that point and people were just focused on hands. 1500 people crammed in a ballroom using hand sanitizer and joking about elbow bumps. And then I never went back to my office after that because it's been closed since. I'd say we dodged a bullet, but, well, we'll never know, will we?
posted by bowtiesarecool at 5:02 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by bowtiesarecool at 5:02 AM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
There was a lot of media and public-health attention given to the attendees at the conference. There was less attention given to the staff at the Marriott who attended them and served them their food. One day, before my building shut down in the Longwood Medical Area, I received an alert that all traffic was stopped in the area while a motorcade of Marriott staff was transported for COVID tests. This had taken days of fear and negotiation before they finally received them.
posted by Hypatia at 5:08 AM on December 14, 2020 [30 favorites]
posted by Hypatia at 5:08 AM on December 14, 2020 [30 favorites]
I went to a small conference at Boston College on March 7 or 8, and thought very hard about bailing.
I haven't heard of any cases arising from it, thank goodness, but in retrospect it would have been more prudent to skip it.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:15 AM on December 14, 2020
I haven't heard of any cases arising from it, thank goodness, but in retrospect it would have been more prudent to skip it.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:15 AM on December 14, 2020
So with 330K cases even with the current CFR for the U.S. of around 1.7 that means it led to about 5100 deaths and that is the conservative estimate as the CFR was far higher in March.
This is a big part of my terror of Covid-19 and my motivation to not get it. I am really not sure I could live with myself if I was part of a covid-19 infection that led to even one other person dying never mind being part of a superspreading chain that kills untold numbers. Even I wasn't pulling a Gobert level microphone licking stunt and instead acquired it through no real fault of my own. I really don't want to be haunted.
posted by srboisvert at 5:21 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is a big part of my terror of Covid-19 and my motivation to not get it. I am really not sure I could live with myself if I was part of a covid-19 infection that led to even one other person dying never mind being part of a superspreading chain that kills untold numbers. Even I wasn't pulling a Gobert level microphone licking stunt and instead acquired it through no real fault of my own. I really don't want to be haunted.
posted by srboisvert at 5:21 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
PAX East has been announced for June 3-6, 2021 in Boston, with September and December for the other versions, but they even admit that's based on things going well domestically.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:26 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:26 AM on December 14, 2020
Mod note: One deleted. Let's avoid random "what if" hypothetical scenarios about Covid-19. If there is research or discussion by scientists or the medical community, it's fine to link to that.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:52 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by taz (staff) at 5:52 AM on December 14, 2020
The weekend of March 7, I went to a big indoor flea market in Virginia. It was definitely less crowded than usual, and when I talked to vendors I knew they were mostly in that zone of jokingly-nervous-but-maybe-nervous-for-real-a-little that I think many of us were in by then. I spent most of my time there thinking ah jeez, most antiques industry people are old and we all spend way too much time breathing in dust, this could be bad.
That same week, my dad (a podiatrist) got covid from a patient and passed it to my mom, though they didn’t know that for sure until they got antibody tests months later.
posted by nonasuch at 6:23 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
That same week, my dad (a podiatrist) got covid from a patient and passed it to my mom, though they didn’t know that for sure until they got antibody tests months later.
posted by nonasuch at 6:23 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
On March 11th I saw Shellac in a crowded venue in Chicago. One band member wore a mask as a joke. On the opening note, Steve Albini spit with his first word, and it landed directly in my husband's eye. We joked about that for a few weeks. Looking back, even standing shoulder to shoulder with unmasked people drinking beer feels absolutely bizarre. And I still fiercely miss that vibe. Can't wait to be with the masses again, free.
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:27 AM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:27 AM on December 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
I had a work event in NYC on March 4th at one of the big midtown hotels. We all thought it was surfaces at that point, but I was still hyper-conscious of when people were close talkers. A whole ton of us at work were sick the following week with weird symptoms. Conversations would begin, "I don't have COVID, but I was out the last couple days." In my case it was fatigue for a few days and an otherworldly migraine-level headache that lasted about 24 hours. No way to get tested then, and antibody tests sounded flaky if/when available in the first months after, so I've never found out one way or the other.
posted by sockshaveholes at 6:31 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by sockshaveholes at 6:31 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
And PAX East was just 1.5 miles away from Long Wharf at the BCEC.
That was the week after the Biogen conference, I think? As far as I know, there were never any cases attached to that event, which is either incredibly fortunate or a complete failure of our contact tracing system. We'll probably never know.
We have a small contingent of employees that work in one of the Biogen buildings down in Kendall Square, and after the news about the conference broke the company was very quick to assure everyone that the building they were in wasn't affected, it was being cleaned, all those employees were going to be temporarily moved to other locations... And then a week later we were all working from home.
I was at a meeting in DC after the Biogen event, and someone there was joking about how one of his coworkers had been to China, Italy, and Seattle over the previous several weeks. He hadn't gotten sick, but "it must be following him around!" Not really all that funny in hindsight, I guess. National Airport was the quietest I had ever seen it that evening, it was eerie.
posted by backseatpilot at 7:17 AM on December 14, 2020
That was the week after the Biogen conference, I think? As far as I know, there were never any cases attached to that event, which is either incredibly fortunate or a complete failure of our contact tracing system. We'll probably never know.
We have a small contingent of employees that work in one of the Biogen buildings down in Kendall Square, and after the news about the conference broke the company was very quick to assure everyone that the building they were in wasn't affected, it was being cleaned, all those employees were going to be temporarily moved to other locations... And then a week later we were all working from home.
I was at a meeting in DC after the Biogen event, and someone there was joking about how one of his coworkers had been to China, Italy, and Seattle over the previous several weeks. He hadn't gotten sick, but "it must be following him around!" Not really all that funny in hindsight, I guess. National Airport was the quietest I had ever seen it that evening, it was eerie.
posted by backseatpilot at 7:17 AM on December 14, 2020
Not really all that funny in hindsight
I'm not picking on this guy, but this is something I've developed a strong opinion about.
(1) The joking-but-kinda-nervous response is a natural human one. In a situation without much information it makes sense that people can both recognize the prospect of risk, but also not know yet how to reconcile it with what they feel they need/should be doing otherwise.
(2) For non-SE Asians, this was our first pandemic, so we should allow some time to catch up on the basics both social and technical. The 'lack of leadership' on, sorry, lying and weaponization of Covid will be judged by history, but your coworker or wacky uncle should be spared.
(3) By now I just don't have patience or humor for it. It's not 'crazy' or 'incredible' or 'funny'. It's exactly what the medical community said it would be. And there was pretty early consensus (late spring?) about how the virus likely spread and what the protocols should be.
Just because no one in government or corporate positions of decision making made this clear doesn't mean we haven't known since at least the end of summer when school was reopening. So by now you should be acting accordingly and not suffering fools who aren't.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 7:35 AM on December 14, 2020 [12 favorites]
I'm not picking on this guy, but this is something I've developed a strong opinion about.
(1) The joking-but-kinda-nervous response is a natural human one. In a situation without much information it makes sense that people can both recognize the prospect of risk, but also not know yet how to reconcile it with what they feel they need/should be doing otherwise.
(2) For non-SE Asians, this was our first pandemic, so we should allow some time to catch up on the basics both social and technical. The 'lack of leadership' on, sorry, lying and weaponization of Covid will be judged by history, but your coworker or wacky uncle should be spared.
(3) By now I just don't have patience or humor for it. It's not 'crazy' or 'incredible' or 'funny'. It's exactly what the medical community said it would be. And there was pretty early consensus (late spring?) about how the virus likely spread and what the protocols should be.
Just because no one in government or corporate positions of decision making made this clear doesn't mean we haven't known since at least the end of summer when school was reopening. So by now you should be acting accordingly and not suffering fools who aren't.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 7:35 AM on December 14, 2020 [12 favorites]
The whole contact surface thing was weird -- the virology community knew right away that it was going to be a respiratory droplet-spread virus just like MERS and SARS. None of these viruses is especially stable at room temperature. The distance and duration of the droplets has been under debate (see the unfortunate hair splitting about the definition of aerosol) but it was always known that people not fomites were going to be the vector.
I wonder if the hype about cleaning was promoted by the governors since it was one (ineffective) bit of theatre they could use to pretend schools and businesses could be safe without having actual PPE or testing.
posted by benzenedream at 9:31 AM on December 14, 2020 [27 favorites]
I wonder if the hype about cleaning was promoted by the governors since it was one (ineffective) bit of theatre they could use to pretend schools and businesses could be safe without having actual PPE or testing.
posted by benzenedream at 9:31 AM on December 14, 2020 [27 favorites]
And PAX East was just 1.5 miles away from Long Wharf at the BCEC.
At the time I was working in the Seaport, and all around the office we were joking (before the severity of Covid sunk in and before anything was known about the Biogen conference) about how Penny Arcade was going to kill us all and how stupid it would be for a webcomic to be responsible for spreading the plague.
Us attendees were making similar jokes at the time too. Given how big that con is, and how many attendees, guests, and exhibitors had come from all over the country, and the world, it certainly does feel like a massive bullet was dodged there.
posted by May Kasahara at 10:16 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
At the time I was working in the Seaport, and all around the office we were joking (before the severity of Covid sunk in and before anything was known about the Biogen conference) about how Penny Arcade was going to kill us all and how stupid it would be for a webcomic to be responsible for spreading the plague.
Us attendees were making similar jokes at the time too. Given how big that con is, and how many attendees, guests, and exhibitors had come from all over the country, and the world, it certainly does feel like a massive bullet was dodged there.
posted by May Kasahara at 10:16 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
What’s the story on legal liability for shit like this?
posted by gottabefunky at 10:25 AM on December 14, 2020
posted by gottabefunky at 10:25 AM on December 14, 2020
this will likely end up being the best observed pandemic of a novel pathogen in history
Goodness, I hope we do a better job with the next ones. There’s plenty of room to do so.
posted by clew at 10:26 AM on December 14, 2020
Goodness, I hope we do a better job with the next ones. There’s plenty of room to do so.
posted by clew at 10:26 AM on December 14, 2020
The Biogen conference was the exact same day that MetaFilter tackled the question of whether a 50-person sex party involved COVID-19 risk.
posted by mbrubeck at 11:46 AM on December 14, 2020 [13 favorites]
posted by mbrubeck at 11:46 AM on December 14, 2020 [13 favorites]
Early in March a ton of kids in my son's preschool class got sick. Runny noses, low fever, coughing, regular preschool stuff. My daughter and husband picked it up, too, or something similar. She threw up off and on for several days. Not a good time.
Mid-March, after the school had shut down for the duration, there was an email sent out to the class parents, with all the parents' email addresses in the cc: field, instead of bcc:.
There was a biogen.com address.
I thought I was going to pass out for a minute.
I... don't think it was Covid. It passed pretty quickly, and no one got seriously ill. But man, that first second of seeing @biogen.com...
posted by Adridne at 12:52 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Mid-March, after the school had shut down for the duration, there was an email sent out to the class parents, with all the parents' email addresses in the cc: field, instead of bcc:.
There was a biogen.com address.
I thought I was going to pass out for a minute.
I... don't think it was Covid. It passed pretty quickly, and no one got seriously ill. But man, that first second of seeing @biogen.com...
posted by Adridne at 12:52 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
What’s the story on legal liability for shit like this?
Depends on whether Mitch McConnell gets his way with the stalled pandemic relief bill or not.
posted by eviemath at 2:04 PM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
Depends on whether Mitch McConnell gets his way with the stalled pandemic relief bill or not.
posted by eviemath at 2:04 PM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
I wonder if the hype about cleaning was promoted by the governors since it was one (ineffective) bit of theatre they could use to pretend schools and businesses could be safe without having actual PPE or testing.
It's really obvious to me that public health officials defaulted to standard winter cold instructions, which in the west is wash your hands, cover your coughs/sneezes with your elbow, and masks are unnecessary. This lasted until early April. For the most part I think this was sincere: They didn't know any better, and at the county levels they didn't actually have the expertise to really digest the specific disease details rapidly, and while there was better advice out there it was mixed with bad advice.
But for sure it's also being used as theater and hasn't stopped. I have struggled several times not to yell at my mom when she tells me how conscientious some business is being by describing the wipe down / disinfection protocol. That's not how the disease spreads, Mom! You know this!
posted by mark k at 2:35 PM on December 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
It's really obvious to me that public health officials defaulted to standard winter cold instructions, which in the west is wash your hands, cover your coughs/sneezes with your elbow, and masks are unnecessary. This lasted until early April. For the most part I think this was sincere: They didn't know any better, and at the county levels they didn't actually have the expertise to really digest the specific disease details rapidly, and while there was better advice out there it was mixed with bad advice.
But for sure it's also being used as theater and hasn't stopped. I have struggled several times not to yell at my mom when she tells me how conscientious some business is being by describing the wipe down / disinfection protocol. That's not how the disease spreads, Mom! You know this!
posted by mark k at 2:35 PM on December 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Wait up, now I'm confused about the Biogen employee who left for China; benzenedream's link upthread is from March, and How a Premier U.S. Drug Company Became a Virus ‘Super Spreader’ (NYT, April 12, 2020) tells a slightly different story and tracks some of the conference attendees: Jie Li, a 37-year-old biostatistician who worked on the Alzheimer’s drug team, had chills, a cough and aches. She was too junior to attend the company’s leadership conference, but her boss went, and showed up at the office afterward. Li & her husband (also a statistician) lived and worked in the US for 15 years. Li had several symptoms; outlets are split on whether she was denied testing or tested positive prior to departure. For the March flight (Boston-Los Angeles-Beijing), Li took antipyretic medicine to mask a fever. When she told the flight attendants she wasn't feeling well, she said she was traveling alone, and she was moved to the back of the plane; later in the flight, she disclosed the presence of her husband and their 2-year-old toddler. According to a former classmate, the couple worried about their child, who would be far from relatives if they both fell ill in the states. Biogen fired Ms. Li. A colleague of Li's husband received a post-arrival email: the couple, suffering high fevers and lung infections, had been hospitalized. After landing in China, Li was placed under investigation for “obstructing the prevention of infectious disease” (a crime that reportedly carries a sentence of up to 7 years in prison).
On Saturday, February 29, a Biogen V.P. and her husband attended a Greek Orthodox holiday party marking the end of carnival season at a friend’s home in Princeton, N.J. Although similar festivities in Greece had been canceled, the party in New Jersey went forward; WH officials had just pronounced the virus in the United States "under control." Of the 48 people who attended the party, at least 15 later tested positive, according to public health authorities. The same night, the photographer hired by Biogen for the conference had a birthday dinner with her boyfriend and two friends. While the photographer felt healthy at the time, she was asymptomatic, and passed the virus to one of the friends.
On Monday, March 2, Biogen’s chief medical officer sent an email informing everyone who attended the leadership meeting that some people had fallen ill and telling them to contact a health care provider if they felt sick. That same day, the company’s four top executives attended a huge health care conference hosted by an investment firm (Cowen 40th Annual Health Care Conference, from March 2-4). At another Marriott in Boston, these execs held meetings in hotel rooms with potential investors. Another Cowen attendee who met some of the same investors said he heard that members of the Biogen team looked sick. Later, investors were informed that two of the four Biogen executives at the conference tested positive.
On Wednesday, March 4, two Biogen executives who had returned home to Germany and Switzerland (where tests were more widely available) tested positive for Covid-19. On Thursday the 5th, the company held a call with its staff and shared the news, directing all office-based employees to work from home. Yet on that same day, a Biogen exec visited the Washington DC office of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (the industry’s top lobbying group). Soon after, that executive tested positive, prompting the group to close its headquarters for deep cleaning. Peter Bergethon (M.D.; he's a neurologist), head of digital and quantitative medicine at Biogen in Boston, gave COVID-19 to his wife, an infectious-disease doctor (they both fell ill and recovered).
Tennessee's first Covid case was a Biogen executive, and the earliest cases in Indiana and North Carolina tie to the company. And absolutely, "330K" is a conservative estimate -- researchers used "28 samples collected with known conference exposure between March 5 and March 11 to show that there was extensive spread within Massachusetts and elsewhere" and prove that by the first of November, "viruses connected to the conference could be found in 29 U.S. states and several countries." Marriott employees, people working in transportation, non-executive Biogen staffers, family and friends, the extended contacts of all and sundry...
The article closes: Biogen has since joined the fight against the virus. The company donated $10 million to expand access to testing and to provide emergency food and protective gear for hospital workers. Company officials said its struggle against the pandemic is just beginning: Biogen, for instance, has also entered into talks with Vir Technology about manufacturing a potential treatment for Covid-19, another pharmaceutical holy grail that could make untold amounts of money.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:38 PM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
On Saturday, February 29, a Biogen V.P. and her husband attended a Greek Orthodox holiday party marking the end of carnival season at a friend’s home in Princeton, N.J. Although similar festivities in Greece had been canceled, the party in New Jersey went forward; WH officials had just pronounced the virus in the United States "under control." Of the 48 people who attended the party, at least 15 later tested positive, according to public health authorities. The same night, the photographer hired by Biogen for the conference had a birthday dinner with her boyfriend and two friends. While the photographer felt healthy at the time, she was asymptomatic, and passed the virus to one of the friends.
On Monday, March 2, Biogen’s chief medical officer sent an email informing everyone who attended the leadership meeting that some people had fallen ill and telling them to contact a health care provider if they felt sick. That same day, the company’s four top executives attended a huge health care conference hosted by an investment firm (Cowen 40th Annual Health Care Conference, from March 2-4). At another Marriott in Boston, these execs held meetings in hotel rooms with potential investors. Another Cowen attendee who met some of the same investors said he heard that members of the Biogen team looked sick. Later, investors were informed that two of the four Biogen executives at the conference tested positive.
On Wednesday, March 4, two Biogen executives who had returned home to Germany and Switzerland (where tests were more widely available) tested positive for Covid-19. On Thursday the 5th, the company held a call with its staff and shared the news, directing all office-based employees to work from home. Yet on that same day, a Biogen exec visited the Washington DC office of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (the industry’s top lobbying group). Soon after, that executive tested positive, prompting the group to close its headquarters for deep cleaning. Peter Bergethon (M.D.; he's a neurologist), head of digital and quantitative medicine at Biogen in Boston, gave COVID-19 to his wife, an infectious-disease doctor (they both fell ill and recovered).
Tennessee's first Covid case was a Biogen executive, and the earliest cases in Indiana and North Carolina tie to the company. And absolutely, "330K" is a conservative estimate -- researchers used "28 samples collected with known conference exposure between March 5 and March 11 to show that there was extensive spread within Massachusetts and elsewhere" and prove that by the first of November, "viruses connected to the conference could be found in 29 U.S. states and several countries." Marriott employees, people working in transportation, non-executive Biogen staffers, family and friends, the extended contacts of all and sundry...
The article closes: Biogen has since joined the fight against the virus. The company donated $10 million to expand access to testing and to provide emergency food and protective gear for hospital workers. Company officials said its struggle against the pandemic is just beginning: Biogen, for instance, has also entered into talks with Vir Technology about manufacturing a potential treatment for Covid-19, another pharmaceutical holy grail that could make untold amounts of money.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:38 PM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
Penny Arcade was going to kill us all and how stupid it would be for a webcomic to be responsible for spreading the plague.
While I'm sure it was more that PAX is a regional event, I still want to believe the PAX's reputation played a role: see this advice on avoiding The PAX Plague, a phenomenon well documented.
posted by pwnguin at 3:00 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
While I'm sure it was more that PAX is a regional event, I still want to believe the PAX's reputation played a role: see this advice on avoiding The PAX Plague, a phenomenon well documented.
posted by pwnguin at 3:00 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
The last trip I took was that weekend, and at one point my partner and I were walking around that part of Boston, and alllllllllmost went into the hotel to see if we could use the bathroom, but just kept walking to dinner. (The difference in flights between the trip there and the trip back was palpable, and it was pretty clear heading home that it would be my last trip anywhere for a while.)
I think I also went to the same late-February yarn event as jenfullmoon, and that's the last time I saw my local knitting friends. :(
posted by epersonae at 3:41 PM on December 14, 2020
I think I also went to the same late-February yarn event as jenfullmoon, and that's the last time I saw my local knitting friends. :(
posted by epersonae at 3:41 PM on December 14, 2020
I flew to Spain on Feb 28 and returned home a week later. It was a fantastic trip, actually. The Alhambra and the Prado were incredible. The food was amazing. I remember looking at case rates as we traveled and thinking, hm we are staying just ahead of this virus, time for more tapas! (This was before anyone knew anything about asymptomatic spread, of course.)
As I was flying from MAD to CDG, Lombardy went under lockdown. As I flew from CDG back to the US, the rest of Italy went under lockdown. My news alerts blew up as soon as I turned my phone back on. I remember having an oh shit moment that evening, reading a Reddit post by a doc in Bergamo describing an entire ICU of ARDS. (In a typical ICU, you might have one or two patients with ARDS; caring for them is incredibly labor intensive and anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 will die on you despite your best efforts.) I remember lying in bed just freaking out about this. Then I got out of bed, found my thermometer, and started keeping a fever curve that night.
I deal with a lot of people every day who don't believe in the virus, or who believe it's overblown, or who believe it can't happen to them. Some of them are health professionals, wearing a mask like a chin diaper. I want to scream at them, or at least say something more effective than "Hey, can you put your mask up?"
Things were uncertain and scary in March, but now they are scary for a different reason.
posted by basalganglia at 5:01 PM on December 14, 2020 [10 favorites]
As I was flying from MAD to CDG, Lombardy went under lockdown. As I flew from CDG back to the US, the rest of Italy went under lockdown. My news alerts blew up as soon as I turned my phone back on. I remember having an oh shit moment that evening, reading a Reddit post by a doc in Bergamo describing an entire ICU of ARDS. (In a typical ICU, you might have one or two patients with ARDS; caring for them is incredibly labor intensive and anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 will die on you despite your best efforts.) I remember lying in bed just freaking out about this. Then I got out of bed, found my thermometer, and started keeping a fever curve that night.
I deal with a lot of people every day who don't believe in the virus, or who believe it's overblown, or who believe it can't happen to them. Some of them are health professionals, wearing a mask like a chin diaper. I want to scream at them, or at least say something more effective than "Hey, can you put your mask up?"
Things were uncertain and scary in March, but now they are scary for a different reason.
posted by basalganglia at 5:01 PM on December 14, 2020 [10 favorites]
> For non-SE Asians, this was our first pandemic
No; for most of us that would be HIV.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:54 PM on December 14, 2020 [11 favorites]
No; for most of us that would be HIV.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:54 PM on December 14, 2020 [11 favorites]
On March 11th I saw Shellac in a crowded venue in Chicago. One band member wore a mask as a joke. On the opening note, Steve Albini spit with his first word, and it landed directly in my husband's eye.
Ha, on March 12 I saw Protomartyr at a...hesitantly crowded venue in Chicago. The lead singer welcomed all of us to "the last concert ever," and we all, you know, sort of laughed-ish. And then it totally was, the last concert ever (at least for that venue, and for many venues here).
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:16 PM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
Ha, on March 12 I saw Protomartyr at a...hesitantly crowded venue in Chicago. The lead singer welcomed all of us to "the last concert ever," and we all, you know, sort of laughed-ish. And then it totally was, the last concert ever (at least for that venue, and for many venues here).
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:16 PM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
As many of us are doubtless experiencing in our countries of residence, along with the efforts of national governments, sub-national governments are trying (with varying degrees of success and dedication) to rein in the spread of the virus. In Canada, the premier of Saskatchewan just curtailed retail shopping and that with with few exceptions, there will be no household visits allowed at Christmas — everyone stays at home. A fair number of the comments about premier Scott Moe are, “Remember this at election time!”
Seven of the ten provincial governments in Canada are centre-right, and 29 US state legislatures are GOP-controlled. It will be hilarious if conservative voters make them pay for trying to save the lives of their constituents.
Talk about your Great Reset.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:58 PM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
Seven of the ten provincial governments in Canada are centre-right, and 29 US state legislatures are GOP-controlled. It will be hilarious if conservative voters make them pay for trying to save the lives of their constituents.
Talk about your Great Reset.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:58 PM on December 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
The Biogen conference was the exact same day that MetaFilter tackled the question of whether a 50-person sex party involved COVID-19 risk.
Never have I wanted an AskMi follow-up more. If the writer is reading this, I hope you don't feel bad about whatever you decided to do. Sounded like you were doing the best with the information we had at the time.
posted by daybeforetheday at 1:26 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
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Reminisce is not the right word.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:58 PM on December 13, 2020 [15 favorites]