With less than three weeks to go before our conference, the coronavirus is continuing its alarming global spread.

As you may know, yesterday the Israeli Ministry of Health, in an effort to contain the virus within Israel, stepped up its restrictions on Israelis who travel abroad. As of now, all Israelis who attend any overseas gathering of more than 100 people are requested to quarantine themselves for two weeks upon their return.

What does this mean for non-Israeli registrants?

We understand that many of our registrants are anxious and may be considering cancelling their registrations. The situation is highly volatile and unpredictable, particularly as we are learning of new coronavirus cases throughout the United States.

Please know that we at JFN take your concerns and your health seriously. We are in the midst of serious discussions about how to proceed, exploring a variety of options, including, but not limited to cancelling or postponing the conference. So far, very few North American conference registrants have cancelled. As you can imagine, cancelling or postponing would have serious implications for JFN and its partners, and it would be a loss to the entire Jewish philanthropic community, which relies on this critical networking opportunity. For these reasons, we are asking registrants to consider holding off on making any final decisions about the conference.

We will continue to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. State Department’s travel restrictions and guidance, and we are monitoring all new developments. Approximately 85 percent of our current registered attendees are from North America, and virtually all of the remainder are from Israel, the United Kingdom, and Australia. We have no registrants from China or Italy.

The conference production team is in close touch with our hotel venue and our caterer, and we will be adding several new health and safety measures for the event including:

• Disinfecting registration counters continuously throughout the day.
• Offering disinfectant wipes and hand sanitization stations throughout the conference area and PGA Resort.
• Adding additional and frequent wipe downs of all common touch areas each day including doorknobs, lecterns, microphones, stairway handrails, trash receptacles, elevator buttons, water stations, registration tables, and in and around the bathroom areas.

Find more details on health and safety measures here.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions to [email protected].