Impact of COVID-19 on ICANN67

The Board takes this action today in as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, considered a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. While the Board recognizes and upholds the value of face-to-face interactions at ICANN's Public Meetings, and the advancement of ICANN community work that happens at these meetings, we cannot move forward with an in-person meeting at the cost of the health of attendees, ICANN org staff members, and the host country. Just as the Board has previously considered in moving meetings due to the emerging Zika virus, health and safety must be the paramount concern.

At the time of the Board decision, the December 2019 COVID-19 outbreak now stands at over 73,000 confirmed cases across 26 countries, with more than 1,800 deaths attributed to the virus. Each day, new information and questions emerge on the mode of transmission, the methodology for preventing the spread of the virus, the ability for carriers to transmit the virus without having any symptoms, and the potential for fatality once infected. While most of the confirmed cases are within China, the spread outside of China has included multiple people infected at or after contact with the 109 attendees of a conference in Singapore, including one attendee who has been identified as the source of at least 11 new cases in England, France, and Spain after he returned from the meeting. A single cruise ship has been the source of at least 500 confirmed cases. Over 1,000 passengers and crew from a different cruise ship disembarked and started flying around the world, only to learn that a fellow passenger tested positive for COVID-19 . While health officials have not declared a pandemic, the extent of new clusters or pockets of cases outside of China are being monitored, with health officials noting that the "next three weeks" will be crucial in such a determination. Those three weeks span the time when the ICANN community is expected to converge on Cancún for ICANN67.

The ICANN Board has been watching how other large, international conferences are responding to COVID-19 in light of the emerging situation. The GSMA cancelled its Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, saying, "With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event." Facebook cancelled its Global Marketing Summit, scheduled for 9-12 March in San Francisco, California, noting "Out of an abundance of caution, we canceled our Global Marketing Summit due to evolving public health risks related to coronavirus." Approximately 5,000 people were expected to attend. IBM has withdrawn from the RSA Conference, scheduled for 24-28 February in San Francisco, California, stating, "The health of IBMers continues to be our primary concern as we monitor upcoming events and travel relative to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). As a result, we are cancelling our participation in this year's RSA conference." The International Trademark Association postponed and relocated its 2020 Annual Meeting, originally scheduled for 25-29 April in Singapore, just as more than two dozen other conferences have been cancelled in the Asian region due to the outbreak.

It is within this framework that the Board considers the impact of COVID-19 on the plans for ICANN67 in Cancún. There are over 1,350 registered attendees, traveling from 155 countries or territories – including the 26 countries that have confirmed cases. While ICANN org can, and has, planned for detection of the virus during the meeting and can provide best practice guidelines for attendees to try to reduce the risk of transmission, if even a single attendee at the conference presents with COVID-19, ICANN would contribute to the global spread of COVID-19 and bring the virus into Mexico and the LAC region. Separately, the impact to the attendees and the ability to even proceed with the meeting cannot be known at this time.

Taking all of this into account, the global health emergency presented by COVID-19 makes it inappropriate for ICANN to convene an in-person Public Meeting at this time. While we have every confidence in the ability of the Federal and State health authorities in Cancún, Mexico to respond to suspected or confirmed cases, it is still too early in the path of COVID-19 to raise the risk of spread in this way.

The ICANN org has initiated planning for ICANN's first remote-only meeting, so that the important work of the ICANN community can continue even without the face-to-face interaction. With this resolution, the Board is directing the ICANN org to coordinate with the ICANN community to achieve an appropriate schedule for the sessions planned for ICANN67. The Board also recognizes that there are other face-to-face meetings attendant to ICANN67, such as Review Team meetings or Nominating Committee meetings, that must also be reconfigured as a result of this decision, and the Board directs ICANN org to identify appropriate alternative arrangements for those sessions.

Prior to taking this decision, the Board received briefings from ICANN org, as well as experts from International SOS (ISOS), on the status of COVID-19 and preparations for ICANN67. ICANN's President and CEO contacted the leadership of ICANN's SOs and ACs to see how the different constituencies were reacting to the outbreak, and convened a session on 18 February 2020 with the SO/AC leadership to share ICANN org's briefing and make an ISOS doctor available to receive questions. ICANN org then followed up with the leadership to further the understanding of the community on this issue. While we understand that many in the community are still willing and interested to travel to an in-person ICANN67, the risks and uncertainty discussed above are too difficult to mitigate. We understand that this cancellation poses some hardship on those with existing plans to travel to Cancún, and we greatly apologize for this. We also thank the ICANN community for its commitment to pursue the work of this meeting remotely, as we know that the ICANN community is well-suited for this effort. As the Board, we have been assured that a remote public forum remains on the schedule, and we look forward to engaging directly with you as we do at every Public Meeting.

The ICANN Board thanks the host committee as well as our community in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) who worked tirelessly to host this meeting in Cancún. We appreciate their understanding and look forward to returning to the LAC region for ICANN70 in 2021.

This action is within ICANN's mission and the public interest, as it is the only path to assure that the work of the ICANN community continues as planned for ICANN67. It is the proper decision on many levels, from not putting ICANN org staff at risk; risking the need to divert the resources and attention of ICANN org to a response to a COVID-19 outbreak amongst ICANN org or the community; to taking a responsible and proper measure to protect against contributing to the global outbreak.

This decision has resource implications that are being quantified. However, the resources that could be used in the event that ICANN needs to respond to a COVID-19 case/outbreak are currently unquantifiable and likely extremely high. This decision has no impact on the security, stability, or resiliency of the Internet's DNS.

This is an organizational administrative decision that does not require public comment.