Earlier this month, Twitch announced the health measures for TwitchCon 2022 at San Diego. At the time, no COVID-19 vaccination or testing requirement was need to attend. Masks were encouraged but were also not a requirement. When this was announced, several content creators revealed that they were no longer going to attend. Following the criticism from the community, Twitch announced today a health measure and rolled back its original measures. The company wrote “We’ve been listening to all of your feedback and know that many of you–especially those who are immunocompromised and the people who support them–want stricter health measures in place to help you feel safe attending TwitchCon San Diego in person. We agree that we can do more to help keep people safe, and have been evaluating the best way to make it work. Today, we’re updating our health measures to require masks in all indoor spaces at TwitchCon. Additionally, we will require all attendees to provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative covid test taken within 72 hours of attending the show.”
Masks will not be required in outdoor spaces such as Kappa Cabana, the TwitchCon Party, waiting in line outside, etc. Twitch said that those who do not like the new health measures can get a refund for tickets. “We recognize that some of you will be disappointed by these new health measures, but we believe these additional requirements will make it possible for more members of our community to safely attend TwitchCon. If you aren’t comfortable with these requirements, we’ll refund your TwitchCon San Diego 2022 tickets purchased before Aug. 12, 2022 until Aug. 19, 2022.”
We want TwitchCon to be a place where our entire community can come together and celebrate each other,” Twitch said. “It should be an inclusive event for everyone, and that means taking steps to ensure as many people as possible feel comfortable with the safety precautions we’re taking.”