https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/woman-catches-coronavirus-twice-confirming-21587251

I plan to attend GenCon so long as it’s not cancelled, but if there becomes a need to cancel the con due to the Coronavirus I’ll be sad, but not too put out. I’d rather not be at a nexus for something like the Coronavirus to spread if that’s still a concern later this year. Issues around refunds and such are secondary for me. 

'pull the plug' on gencon???  wow.    not enough drama in your life?

anyone who wants to hide in their basement can do so.   but leave the rest of us out of it.

My bet is that GC goes as planned. But here are events that have been canceled because of COVID-19:

The Game Developers Conference: ~30,000 attendees scheduled for March in San Fran.
FB Developers Conference: ~5,000 attendees scheduled for San Jose in May
Mobile World Congress: ~110,000 attendees scheduled for Barcelona this past week
According to the IOC, a decision about whether to cancel the Olympics will be made in May.
The Louvre is closed indefinitely.

So it could be that this whole thing has largely blown over by August, or it could be that COVID-19 is pretty much everywhere by then anyway but is receding in numbers infected, and therefore canceling a big event isn't needed anyway. Or it could be worse in August--or more properly, it could be worse in the mid to end of June when GC would have to make the decision. In the face of all that, it seems like unwarranted bravado to say that expressing concern about further events being canceled is equal to 'hiding in the basement'.

FWIW, I'm driving, and given that it's not during the semester, my own work plans would be unchanged, so it would only be hotel deposits that I'd be out personally. So I personally would be fine with them waiting as long as they can. But someone flying from another continent or across the country, with a job schedule less forgiving? They may want to know much earlier than I would need to. Tough decision. Hopefully things will be much clearer by event reg.

My problem isn't Gen Con getting cancelled (and hence getting a badge refund), my problem is the nonrefundable airfare which is much more than the badge cost.  Luckily, hotel and car rentals that are just reservations at this point can be cancelled.

I have not purchased my flight tickets yet, but the closer we get, the higher the costs generally get along with worse flight times.

As Brotherbock mentioned above...Perhaps it is too early for Gen Con to make a call, but I hope some decision can be made in the near future so my gaming group and I can either move forward with our plans for 2020, or if we should start looking at 2021.

The issue goes beyond our choice to attend or not.  Some of us are more than just a short car ride away.  Our choices to attend are impacted by airlines and other organizations. 

Does anyone have any knowledge about supply chains being disrupted for exhibitors - assuming  a fair amount of items sold at GENCON are manufactured overseas.  I would imagine lead time is needed to process and manufacture goods. 

Could circumstances change?  Yes.  But, that has been true every year, not just this one.  Air travel was shut down for a couple days after 9/11.  No one can predict the future. 

As others have stated above, if we start shutting down the world, the amount of money I am out for this trip will be the least of my concerns at that point.

Already a few airlines have stopped charging change fees because of the Coronavirus.  If things get worse, and more events get cancelled, most airlines will suspend their change fees, so it's unlikely you'll be out the airfare if they have to cancel Gen Con.  Also, by the same token, the housing company will probably have to waive at least part of the $50 cancellation fee.

I work in public health.  We have been getting regular updates from the CDC.  The CDC is shifting from containment mode to mitigation mode.  The risk remains low but to expect widespread community based spreading of the virus.

The problem is we have no vaccines or medicines to help with mitigation nor do we have good information on the ease or transmission or lethality.  Any info out of China is suspect as the government flat out lies.

Normal seasonal flu has a lethality of 0.1 percent. The worst has about 2 percent.  Right now it looks like this virus is in the upper levels of lethality and ease of transmission.  That will undoubtedly change as we get more information.

Do I think this virus will burn itself out and gencon will go as normal, abeit with more plague doctor cosplay, yes.  Do I think there is a above normal chance of the con being called off due to ban on large public gatherings, yes. Am I changing my plans no.  Would I think twice about pulling the trigger on large nonrefundable purchases, yes.
 

And for the love of all that is holy:

If you are sick, PLEASE don't come to GenCon. I have a fear not of the disease but of just getting the disease because someone was too dumb to not come to work or game night. I caught the flu last month because someone came to game night after spending a day teaching in a school filled with plague rats... I mean kids. And even though the carrier got a flu shot, he didn't wash and touched all of the lovely cards and dice that game night. Nothing like getting the flu and having it kick in just as you leave work on Friday.

They just cancelled the Arnold Classic in Columbus. We only got 3 days notice. This pulls in 200k people and makes the city $53m. Reading between the lines it seemed that the organizers wanted to push forward, but the state put a stop to it.

Am I worried, yes. But there is not much I can do, other to watch and wait.

While that is a state away from Gen Con; it starts to put Origins into more questionable territory as it's also at the GCCC (not to mention the Pride Parade and all the other big events that happen in that area that weekend).

Granted, we're still just under 5 months for Gen Con.  We have time to get a better understanding on if it's going to be the Extinction Level Event that some are saying it's going to be or if it's a bad bug that we'll forget about in a few years, or something in the middle.
I stated on the first page, don't be concerned with it disrupting Gen Con just yet.

Ohio DCP? I live in Columbus and haven't heard of that organization/office and a search only turned up Ohio Deferred Compensation. Did you mean the Ohio Department of Health or something similar?

Simply curious as that's been big news locally.

For the record, they did not cancel the Arnold Classic. The athletes will still be competing, but it will be closed to the public until the finals in strongman and bodybuilding late Saturday. However they did completely shut down the associated Fitness Expo. Still a huge deal that effects thousands of people, but the event itself is still going on. 

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Edited to correct information on the finals the public is allowed to view.