SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Days after a major mobile technology conference was cancelled in Spain, IBM announced Friday it would not be sending any of its employees to San Francisco for the upcoming RSA gathering of top cyber security experts over fears of the coronavirus.
IBM Pulls Out Of RSA Over Coronavirus Fears
Several other technology events have also been disrupted by coronavirus fears. Cisco Live, set to take place in Melbourne in March, was recently called off, according to the BBC. Exhibitors have also pulled out of major events at motor shows, fashion industry events, and a Swatch summit, according to the report.
Organizers for the RSA event, which drew over 42,000 attendees(Opens in a new tab) in 2019, are going out of their way to reassure those who are still planning on attending (including this reporter) that it's taking coronavirus concerns seriously.
As 40,000 attendees descend on San Francisco for the annual security pilgrimage that is the RSA Conference, yet another large sponsor, Verizon, pulls out of the event citing safety concerns over the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Verizon follows fellow tech giants, AT&T and IBM, in withdrawing from the RSA Conference, just days away.
Whether or not MWC will recover due to lost investments is up for debate. As described by PC Mag mobile analyst Sascha Segan, "coronavirus fear killed MWC and the impact on the wireless industry might be huge."
We observed a pattern whereby individuals who were afraid of contracting COVID-19 used coping strategies that reduced contact with humans (e.g., used the phone to interact with others, engaged in video conferencing, exercised indoors, and followed media coverage of COVID-19). This may be an indication that respondents who have a strong perception of risk for contract COVID-19 are possibly less likely to be risk-takers and they therefore adopt coping strategies that promote social distancing. We also acknowledge that not all forms of COVID-19 related fears are dysfunctional so future studies may need to make a distinction between functional and dysfunctional fears in the study analyses [55]. 2ff7e9595c
Comments