The cancellation of mass gatherings (MGs)? Decision making in the time of COVID-19

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Qanta A. Ahmed, New York University, Winthrop Hospital; Ziad Memish, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-03-01
• Publisher: Elsevier ScienceDirect
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101631
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
• Volume: 34
• Start Page: 101631
• End Page: 101631
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Hajj; SARS-CoV-2; Travel; Decision Making; Saudi Arabia; Tokyo; Umrah; Olympics; Humans; China; Pandemics; Coronavirus Infections; Islam; Pneumonia, Viral; COVID-19; Mass gathering; Betacoronavirus; Sports; Crowding
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

Our recommendation, as experts who have monitored health hazards at the Hajj for over 15 years, especially if the situation with COVID-19 continues to escalate globally is that Hajj 2020 will be at risk of being suspended and a means for Muslims to fulfill their rights in the future either personally or even by proxy need to be announced. The same holds true for the Summer 2020 Olympics in Japan and for many other MGs and large gatherings. Decisions in the time of COVID-19 will be closely followed and will be a blueprint for other mass gatherings.