Maker Faire Warsaw measures during COVID-19

As the crises of COVID-19 is affecting all of our daily activities including big events and gatherings and as the safety always comes first, our team decided to postpone MFW till the 12th of June 2021.

Now as we develop a bigger understanding for the disease and because we want to deliver a full Maker Faire experience as much as we could to the community, our team is continuously developing and adjusting a plan to achive this without endangering anyone during the event (as long as there is an official allowance to hold public events).

Our measures to insure a higher public safety is based on WHO recommendations for mass gatherings during COVID, CDC and the local safety standards for conducting public events:

  1. We made the new date 12 month after the old one to insure that all the health organisations will have a better understanding of the virus and create safety protocols against it, maybe even a successful vaccination;
  2. We will continuously assessing the situation, based on current governmental regulations and recommendations concerning  conditions; 
  3. We will provide COVID-19 prevention supplies to event staff and participants ( Makers, Speakers, Performers );
  4. We will make a routine cleaning and disinfecting for the surfaces and objects that are frequently touched during the day;
  5. Our event will be in a bigger open air location with enough distance between booths and dedicated standing spots with spaces between them for attendees to avoid over crowdedness;  
  6. There will be a possibility of splitting the event on two or more days to reduce the number of attendees for mass gatherings (if possible);
  7. We will promote messages before the event that discourage people who are sick or at greater risk from attending events, with the possibility to stream some of the activities we will have online for whoever won’t be able to attend;
  8. We will be displaying signs (physical and/or electronic) throughout the event to provide frequent reminders to participants to engage in everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. These include:
    1. Stay home when you are sick, except to get medical care;
    2. Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash;
    3. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol;
    4. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands;
    5. Prevent sharing of equipment and clean frequently touched surfaces and objects (for Makers and exhibitors);
    6. Avoid as much as possible handshakes, high fives or physical greetings.
  9. There will be rubbish bins will be emptied periodically during the event;
  10. There will be a limited numbers of people inside close spaces or tents; 
  11. There will be a special separated space for sick people;
  12. Those who become sick will be immediately isolated in a special separated space for them from staff and participants who are not sick and given a clean disposable face mask to wear;
  13. We will work with partners, such as local hospitals, to create a plan for treating staff and participants who do not live nearby;
  14. We will have a contact tracing protocol ready (with all details of those present) for the closed workshops.

This plan is not definite and it undergoes a frequent updating/changing process considering the current developments of the situation. For more information and updates about COVID-19, please check the official WHO information center and the Advices for public page