LBF defends Covid safety measures after wave of post-fair cases

London Book Fair organisers have been forced to defend their Covid safety measures after a surge in cases among LBF attendees.

Lesley O’Mara, m.d. of Michael O’Mara, told The Bookseller that four staff members who attended the event tested positive for Covid two to three days later, also hearing from a US colleague that two out of three of them attending then tested positive on their return to America.

Peter Straus of Rogers, Coleridge and White said six in the agency’s foreign rights team went to the fair and three have since tested positive, as well as two further members of the wider team; meaning at least five out of the 15 team members who attended LBF have come down with the illness.

Meanwhile on social media, Oneworld publisher Juliet Mabey revealed two staff contracted the illness after attending LBF, and infections have been reported from staffers at HarperCollins, Canongate, Bonnier Books UK, Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster and more.

Literary scout Louise Allen-Jones wrote on Twitter that the number of people testing positive following the fair was “beyond a joke”, stating: “All that was needed was to be asked to take an LFT [lateral flow test], but that was only one of three options [...] One of my team has it, and one of our clients has flown back to their country with it.” She has also now tested positive herself. 

She told The Bookseller: “I think we all knew the chances of the LBF and its attendant parties being superspreading events were off the scale. Why did we all put ourselves up for something with no mask-wearing rules, knowing the odds were that, unless we had antibodies, we would all get ill? I also know some people felt that they should be there, rather than deciding to willingly embrace the possibility of contracting Covid.”

In a statement, London Book Fair organisers said: “The safety of attendees and exhibitors was paramount during the organisation of the London Book Fair, and with thousands of publishing professionals coming to Olympia, we were careful to put Covid safety measures in place to protect those present as much as possible. All attendees had to demonstrate their Covid status in order to enter Olympia, with visitors unable to do so being turned away. Mask-wearing was encouraged in signage throughout the venue and sanitiser points were available across Olympia. In order to monitor potential cases, lateral flow tests were available at no cost onsite in a dedicated testing centre which ran throughout the three days of the fair, with many attendees making use of this facility.

"Events like the London Book Fair are key to the publishing industry as we emerge from the pandemic, and we worked hard to make the fair as safe as environment as possible as it returned in person this year.”