Background:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person academic events were cancelled. Academic activities have been resumed, however, the risk of COVID-19 in its participants is not known.

Objective:

To know the frequency of suspicious symptoms and/or COVID-19 in participants of the XLIX National Meeting of the Mexican Association of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (RNAMEG).

Material and methods:

Survey through electronic questionnaire for in-person and virtual participants of the XLIX RNAMEG evaluating sociodemographic, pre, trans and post-congress aspects.

Results:

There was a response from 124 participants (92 in-person, 32 virtual). Twenty-eight percent (9/32) of virtual participants were very concerned about acquiring COVID-19 compared to 10.9% (10/92) of in-person participants (p=0.015). Fifty five percent (51/92) of in-person participants considered these events very important compared to 28.1% (9/32) of virtual participants (p=0.015). During the congress, the performance of high-risk activities for COVID-19 was higher for in-person participants (in-person 78.3% (72/92) vs. virtual 18.2% (6/92) p<0.001). After the congress, no participant reported having any suspicious symptoms and/or COVID-19. Ninety-two percent (90/92) of in-person participants considered that they would or probably participate in some face-to-face academic activity compared to 62% (20/32) of virtual participants (p<0.001).

Conclusion:

The frequency of suspicious symptoms and/or COVID-19 was not different for in-person participants compared to virtual participants in the XLIX RNAMEG.

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