Omicron is here, and it’s wild
After an all-virtual CES 2021, attending the next one in-person seemed (briefly) possible, but a new, more contagious variant of COVID-19 has started making the global rounds, threatening new lockdowns and just generally screwing everything up. And suddenly, in-person events started looking extra-dangerous again. While CES 2022 is still going to take place from January 5th to January 8th in Las Vegas (as per the CTA, at least for the moment), more and more companies and publications are dialing back or outright canceling their in-person involvement. Google has now joined this growing list.
A Google spokesperson has confirmed that the company will not have an on-floor presence in the event, citing concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.
After careful consideration we have decided to withhold from having a presence on the show floor of CES 2022. We’ve been closely monitoring the development of the Omicron variant, and have decided that this is the best choice for the health and safety of our teams. We will continue to collaborate closely with both CTA and our partners to identify and support virtual opportunities, and we look forward to sharing the latest Google innovations with you all.
Other companies that have pulled out of CES over the past few days include T-Mobile, Amazon, Meta, and Twitter. Some others are reportedly monitoring the situation but haven’t outright called off their attendance yet. This is starting to look more and more like an MWC 2020 type of situation, where individual companies began pulling out until eventually, the whole event was called off.
The CTA insists that attending in person can be safe with its strict vaccination, masking, and social distancing requirements, but given how quickly omicron is spreading and how blurry the panorama is looking about this new variant, both showcasing companies and publications alike aren’t taking the risk of coming back home sick. That doesn’t mean that the show can’t go on virtually, but in-person might be a no-go, once again.
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