NEW ORLEANS – Epistemix, a computational modeling software company that develops simulations to fight disease and inform policy, and the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance, a coalition that represents the common interests of the U.S. exhibitions and conferences industry, announced a partnership to provide expert guidance on how to reopen events amid COVID-19 concerns. The partnership will provide the data leaders and event coordinators need to determine what size events are safe to host, and when event capacities can safely increase in locations across Louisiana.
Epistemix said it will help to relieve uncertainty.
“We’re hopeful that this partnership will help bring tourism and trade shows back to New Orleans,” said Hervé Sedky, chairman of ECA. “Recent research shows 78% of conference attendees expect to attend in-person events in fall 2021, increasing to 94% by winter. There’s an appetite for safe gatherings in the event space, and working with Epistemix will allow us to provide that.”
“Our team has spent decades building epidemiological models to combat smallpox, measles, HIV, SARS, MERS, the opioid crisis, and other epidemics,” said Dr. Don Burke, president of Epistemix. “The mathematical and scientific data we’re utilizing to custom-build these models will support leaders like Gov. John Bel Edwards in making the best decisions possible as they plan for conventions to help invigorate the trade show industry while preventing the spread of the virus.”
Epistemix said current COVID-19 statistics offer useful context but fail to provide enough specificity to inform real-time decisions and policy interventions. The company’s software simulates the public-health impacts of high-stakes decisions by incorporating a “digital twin” of every person in a population, and matching the age, gender, race, and other demographic information of each individual in a specific geography. It then uses this synthetic population to model how to safely host a conference, trade show, or other large events during COVID-19.
