Amid the continuing spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus disease, the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapon-design laboratories have canceled the unclassified 2020 Strategic Weapons in the 21st Century summit scheduled for Thursday in Washington, D.C.
This would have been the 13th year for the annual summit, co-hosted by the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories. The gathering brings together “interested stakeholders from the national security laboratories, federal government, military, think tank, and academic communities, as well as allied counterparts,” according to a brief summary of last year’s event posted online by Livermore.
Multiple people familiar with the labs’ plans confirmed that the summit, which is not open to the public, was off.
The laboratories made the decision amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, which broke out in China in 2019 and causes the disease known as COVID-19. Livermore, at least, canceled business travel for lab employees for the rest of the week after an employee last week reported contact with someone who had the virus. During this time “most” visits to the California weapons lab will also be off, a Livermore spokesperson said Monday by email.
COVID-19 is not influenza, but it has similar symptoms: coughing, shortness of breath, and fever. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the elderly and those with certain chronic diseases are most at risk to become seriously ill from COVID-19, which has killed more than 20 people in the U.S. The global death toll is close to 4,000, though more than 62,000 have recovered from the disease, according to a tracker operated by Johns Hopkins University. The tracker reflects only confirmed cases of the disease.
