WILMINGTON – The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce announced Monday that it is postponing its annual dinner until April due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Originally scheduled for Jan. 10 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, the annual dinner and awards ceremony will now occur April 4, officials said. The dinner is the largest of the state chamber’s annual events, drawing over 1,000 business leaders, dignitaries, and elected officials for a keynote speaker – this year’s is Kathleen Shelton, vice president and chief technology officer of FMC Corporation – and presentation of the Josiah Marvel Cup award for a chamber advocate.
“Since our Annual Dinner committee and staff began the planning process for this event in July 2021, we followed the pandemic closely and made decisions based on CDC and State guidelines to design a responsible event that minimized risks to our guests. However, the current data shows that we are in a situation very different than when we began this process,” the chamber said in a statement.
Seeking to prioritize attendee safety and to “help lessen the burden on health care workers,” the chamber made the decision to postpone its spotlight event.
In addition to the annual dinner, the state chamber announced a 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, webinar with Dr. Marci Drees, chief infection prevention officer and hospital epidemiologist at ChristianaCare, who will share her perspective on the omicron variant and outbreak. She will answer questions around booster efficacy, what to do if you experience symptoms or test positive, how long the current spike could last, and more. To register, visit the DSCC website.
