Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The risk of COVID transmission will be at a rate of less than 0.1% of total attendance during The Inspired Home Show next month, according to updated data released today by Epistemix, a computational modeling software company that develops simulations to model the spread of diseases and inform policy.
This projection places The Inspired Home Show, set for 5-7 March at Chicago’s McCormick Place, below the Center for Disease Control (CDC) threshold for safe travel and gathering.
“Creating a controlled environment is crucial for conferences like The Inspired Home Show,” says Dr. Lindsey Reiser, managing director of professional services at Epistemix. “The robust program of safety measures that Chicago requires, along with what McCormick Place and IHA will have in place means a reduction in transmissibility by 4X compared to other typical activities in Chicago public spaces.”
Covid-related statistics in Chicago continue to improve, and this trend is expected to continue into February and March. On Jan. 19, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady noted that the average number of cases per day had dropped by more than 50% since early January. Arwady announced “I am very, very pleased to say that we have formally passed the omicron peak here in the city of Chicago…this is not just an artifact of testing. This is in fact, a true peak.”
Subsequently, during a press conference on 1 February, Arwady noted that the city’s positivity rate on COVID tests continues to decline – down significantly from the early January peak.
Partnering in August 2021, Epistemix and the International Housewares Association are working together to develop appropriate mitigation strategies to improve and ensure the safety of The Inspired Home Show.
Projections show:
● McCormick Place’s GBAC certification, use of hospital-grade sanitation and increased airflow filtration and circulation ensure a controlled environment that provides a high level of protection from COVID-19.
● The Inspired Home Show masking, testing and vaccination protocols provide a low risk of transmissibility among attendees of the event.
● With the combined efforts of McCormick Place and IHA, Epistemix projects the risk of infection at The Inspired Home Show to be less than 0.1% of all attendees, placing the event below the CDC threshold for safe travel and gathering.
● Epistemix data has proven to be 95% accurate when forecasting for past events.
“After two years without a major home + housewares industry trade show, both retailers and suppliers are craving in-person product discovery and interaction,” says Derek Miller, IHA president & CEO. “To ensure success and meet the expectations of our attendees, IHA has worked with Epistemix, a firm of epidemiologists and computational modeling experts to help us develop policies and protocols to protect our guests and staff.”
