--On Monday, 17 February, 2020 13:25 +1300 Jay Daley <jay@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> On 17/02/2020, at 10:06 AM, Ole Jacobsen <olejacobsen@xxxxxx> >> wrote: >> >> My point: These blanket travel bans are NOT "government >> imposed," but rather a matter of *corporate* policy in many >> cases. > > I see, thank you for explaining that. > > I hesitate to make policy on the fly and so all I will say for > now is that if anyone find themselves in this position they > should get in touch with us. I will discuss with colleagues > whether or not we need to amend the policy. Jay, Thanks. This is part of what I was trying to get at several days ago. With emphasis that it is only a guess, I am guessing that complete travel bans, or even bans on people arriving from a particular country, imposed by governments that have not already imposed such bans are unlikely. The things that are, I think, far more likely to prevent someone who intended to attend from doing so are: * Company world-wide travel bans of the variety Ole was referring to. I note that there has already been a message on the list from a Sprint employee about such a ban. I'm aware of a few others, Ole's notes point to what I assume are more, and that number seems likely to rise. * Government-imposed restrictions, not on travel, but on post-travel activities or equivalent, such as 14 day quarantines after arrival. I think that, if Canada imposed a 14 day quarantine on arrivals from certain cities or countries (effectively requiring around March 7 for the IETF meeting) or if a participant's country of residence required a 14 day quarantine period on return after IETF, it is a fairly safe bet that many companies would say "can't have you away from work for three weeks, so you are not allowed to go". I don't expect you to make policy on the fly about such things and hope no one else does either, but these are the sorts of things that are likely enough that establishing a policy and making it clear -- rather than making case-by-case decisions and hoping they will be perceived as fair-- seems to me to be quite important. best, john
