The organizers of the 2022 IPPE to take place in Atlanta from January 25th to 27th anticipate high attendance in the Georgia World Conference Center. The event will offer a combination of a trade show with 1,200 exhibitors, the International Poultry Scientific Forum and an extensive educational program. Concurrently meetings will take place for associations affiliated with the U.S. poultry industry, the American Feed Industry Association and the North American Meat Institute.  The 2021 IPPE was justifiably cancelled but it is anticipated that voluntary protective measures including suggested vaccination and masking will not result in a mass-spreader event.

The Midwest Poultry Federation Convention to take place at the Minneapolis Convention Center March 22nd to 27th will require full vaccination against COVID or testing negative within 72 hours of attending. Face covering will be required within the Convention Center.

In contrast a number of prominent U.S. scientific associations announced that in-person meetings would be cancelled during January and February as a precaution against spreading the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 currently responsible for a surge in U.S. cases. 

• The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) the largest general science society worldwide will cancel the in-person component of the annual meeting to have taken place during late January in Philadelphia.  The online segment will proceed.

• The American Meteorological Society is cancelling the in-person meeting scheduled for Houston in January.

• The Joint Mathematics meeting planned for Seattle will be replaced by a virtual meeting in April

• The American Astronomical Society deferred the annual meeting in Salt Lake City as an in-person event in mid-January and has cancelled both in-person and virtual formats.  Approximately 2,000 had registered for the meeting in Utah but the board elected to cancel and consider a subsequent hybrid meeting.

The Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) held an in-person meeting in Phoenix. The decision to proceed was based on the fact that the Phoenix Convention Center has a suitable ventilation system, with supplementary filtration for meeting rooms and reconfiguring seating.  The SICB also required attendees to show proof of vaccination and to wear masks.

Representatives of the various scientific organizations commented on the financial loss as a result of returning registration fees and also expense involved in arranging for virtual presentations.  Organizers of the in-person SICB meeting were faced with rescheduling presentations as participants in the program cancelled as a result of positive COVID diagnosis.

Other than the AAAS meeting, the specialist scientific societies attracted less than 3,000 attendees.