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COVID concerns are stifling next month’s event.
The 2022 Consumer Electronics Show is scheduled for the first week of January 2022. The event is less than two weeks away, but it already looks like this won’t yet be the return to normalcy the event organizers were hoping for. Due to the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, many people are once again becoming wary of gathering in large, crowded spaces, which has prompted multiple potential attendees to second-guess their appearances.
Multiple major players in the tech sector that have previously made appearances at CES in years past have announced their intent to either skip 2022’s event entirely or make their presentation a virtual affair. At time of writing, Amazon, Pinterest, Meta, Twitter, T-Mobile, AT&T, and TikTok have decided to switch to virtual presentations in the interest of their employees’ health and wellbeing.
CES 2022 falling apart: Lenovo joins T-Mobile, Amazon, AT&T and others in bailing https://t.co/71PZez6m2f pic.twitter.com/zoOhj0LHRI
— The Verge (@verge) December 23, 2021
T-Mobile in particular will remain one of th event’s main sponsors, but will be “significantly limiting” its in-person presence. The company’s CEO Mike Sievert, who was originally scheduled to give a keynote presentation at the event, will no longer be doing so, either in-person or virtually. “We are prioritizing the safety of our team and other attendees with this decision,” T-Mobile said in a statement. “T-Mobile’s entire team looks forward to an in-person CES 2023, which we hope includes an on-stage keynote in front of a live audience.”
The organizers of CES, the Consumer Technology Association, asserted their confidence that with a combination of masking, social distancing, and of course, vaccination, it should still be safe to put on the event.
