The FCC says it will be limiting access to the FCC as a preventative measure in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and will be suspending FCC participation in any large gatherings.
According to the commission, anyone who has been in any country in the previous 14 days that is subject to CDC level-three travel warnings will not be allowed to enter FCC facilities. Currently that would exclude recent visitors to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea.
[Read: What Radio Exhibitors at NAB Show Are Saying About Coronavirus]
That includes FCC employees and contractors as well as visitors.
The FCC has suspended all noncritical FCC domestic and international travel and for the near term is “suspending until further notice any FCC involvement in noncritical large gatherings that involve participants from across the country and/or around the world.”
An FCC spokesperson was checking at press time on whether that means the chairman won’t make it for his Q&A at the NAB Show next month or whether that is considered a “critical” gathering. That is still six weeks away, so there could also be a change in the virus status by then.
It is certainly a large gathering, drawing close to 100,000 people from home and abroad.
