Consultation on removing IETF-specific COVID management rules for IETF 117 San Francisco and beyond

[IETF Executive Director <[e-mail]>]

Since IETF 113 Vienna, when the IETF first returned to onsite meetings following the outbreak of COVID, onsite participants at IETF meetings have been required to confirm their vaccination status and wear masks.  Initially this was a local legal requirement, but since IETF 114 Philadelphia this has been an IETF-specific requirement, decided upon after community consultation.  The IETF Administration LLC and the IESG now wish to revisit these IETF-specific requirements for COVID management, for implementation for IETF 117 San Francisco and beyond.

We start from the general principle that we should not impose out-of-the-ordinary restrictions on participants and the meeting process, without compelling reasons to do so.  While we would strongly prefer to start from a neutral position and have an evidence-based and people-centred discussion to determine if such compelling reasons exist, that is clearly not possible as views have become entrenched in both the IETF community and society in general.  

Instead, we make a judgement call that the trade-off between the risk to vulnerable participants, and the effects of out-of-the-ordinary restrictions on participants and the meeting process, will have reached a point by IETF 117 San Francisco where these IETF-specific restrictions should not be sustained.

We therefore propose to drop all of the IETF-specific COVID management requirements for IETF 117 San Francisco and beyond, unless we are required to impose them or the circumstances of COVID significantly change.  We intend to continue to provide free masks and COVID tests for IETF 117 San Francisco and IETF 118 Prague, and will review this practice after that.

We understand that this proposed change will exclude some from participating onsite at IETF Meetings for at least the near future, and we do not make this proposal lightly.  We will continue to invest in our remote participation services so that those who participate remotely have as good an experience as possible. We will also ensure that IETF meetings remain a safe and welcoming environment for those who choose to wear masks and we will not tolerate any actions aimed at dissuading people from doing so.

While we have made this judgement call, we are willing to listen to the community and willing to reconsider this proposal.  This is by no means a clear or simple decision to make.  So please tell us what you think.

We now welcome community feedback on this proposal.  Please provide your feedback either to the public list [e-mail] or to me directly at [e-mail], before 17 April 2023.  We would like to avoid this feedback process becoming a heated and intractable debate, so if possible please avoid responding directly to feedback you disagree with. 

To reiterate, IETF 116 Yokohama continues under the existing policy and is unaffected by this consultation.

-- 
Lars Eggert, IETF Chair
Jay Daley, IETF Executive Director