Dear Molecular Med Tri-Conference Registrant,

Thank you for registering for our Molecular Med Tri-Conference, which is coming up next week. Many people around the world have been paying attention to the coronavirus, and you may have questions and concerns at it relates to upcoming travel for the conference. We feel that the risk of coronavirus infection while in San Francisco is very low, and we wanted to provide you with some information and assurances.

About 30 of our employees will be travelling to San Francisco over the weekend, to be ready to run the programs of short courses, tracks, exhibits, roundtables and other activities that make up this important conference. While there typically are participants at this meeting from China, South Korea, Japan or other areas where exposure to the virus may be more prevalent, we expect few, if any attendees to be present from these locations, eithers as a result of self-selected restrictions or limitations imposed by governments or airlines.

We understand that three patients are being treated in San Francisco hospitals for coronavirus; all of whom were moved to San Francisco by medical personnel after contracting the virus elsewhere. There is no indication of community-based infections in the San Francisco area, and the mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, on Wednesday stated that “there is no recommendation to cancel meetings or social gatherings in San Francisco at this time”.

We have contacted staff at the Moscone Center and at the hotels that we will be using for the conference. They have all confirmed that they will have additional safety precautions in place to reduce the risk of infection, and if circumstances call for it, they are fully prepared to increase these efforts. We will also provide additional precautions, particularly hand sanitizers, at registration, in meeting rooms and elsewhere.

Additional current information provided by the City of San Francisco in the form of fact sheets and FAQs are available at www.sfdph.org and www.sf72.org. We look forward to seeing you next week in San Francisco and hope that you enjoy participating in the conference.