To our Hal-Con community,
We take the health and safety of our guests very seriously. While Hal-Con 2020 is still seven months away, we are working diligently to ensure we are responding appropriately to the COVID-19 outbreak. At present, there are three presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia and we recognize that this number is likely to climb.
Hal-Con Sci-Fi and Fantasy Convention is our flagship event and is still scheduled to take place October 23rd – 25th, 2020. We simply don’t know what will happen between now and October but rest assured we will make any future decisions with public health and safety in mind.
We also organize and attend a number of community events throughout the year. Our Community Squad will not be attending any events between now and the end of April, and we will assess whether or not to proceed with future events in the coming weeks. We’ll be sure to notify the community about any decisions we make regarding community events as soon as possible.
In addition, we have decided to cancel any in-person meetings effective immediately and will instead communicate via conference calls and online meetings.
We are committed to ensuring our own health and safety policies match those recommended by Public Health Canada, the Nova Scotia Health Authority, and the Halifax Regional Municipality.
We are also consulting with the Halifax Convention Centre about their plans for risk mitigation and public safety. They have released a COVID-19 Preparedness Statement which can be found here.
Hal-Con staff and attendees can all play a part in reducing the risk of COVID-19 and many other illnesses that spread by person-to-person contact by:
- Washing your hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds
- Coughing or sneezing into your elbow/sleeve instead of into your hands
- Avoiding touching your face
- Avoiding contact with people who are ill
- Staying home if you are ill
We also urge all community members to follow the precautionary measures outlined in today’s news conference by Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Strang and Premier Stephen McNeil, and any future directives issued by health authorities.