Coronavirus Bringing More Industry Cancellations as Fate Looms of April NAB Show

Coronavirus concerns are forcing the cancellation of more industry summits and prompting the FCC to ban nonessential travel and participation in large gatherings (see 2003040061). America's Communications Association Thursday also announced the cancellation of its March summit.

As Nevada authorities in Clark County reported the state's first confirmed coronavirus case Thursday, eyes were peeled on the NAB Show, which is scheduled to attract nearly 100,000 when it opens April 18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Of keen interest was whether other NAB Show exhibitors would follow the lead of Nikon, which announced Wednesday it won’t attend.

Numerous broadcast industry sources told us Fox also pulled out, though Fox didn't comment. Broadcasters and broadcast attorneys said the NAB Show is the trade group's biggest single revenue source, so it's certain not to take a cancellation decision lightly.

The NAB Show is "proceeding as planned,” emailed a spokesperson, repeating the messaging that has been on the show's website for days. “In light of today’s news of a confirmed case of coronavirus in Nevada, we have reached out to local public health officials, the convention center, and other partners on the ground to assess the situation,” NAB said. The show will post updates at nabshow.com/coronavirus.

One Media President Mark Aitken said his company will reduce the number of people it takes to the show because of COVID-19 travel concerns. Other vendors are known to be pondering similar decisions.

One of them is Sony, which "like many other companies, is dealing with this fluid situation by assessing all the relevant data as it becomes available," emailed spokesperson Cheryl Goodman Thursday. "Our priority is the safety of our employees, our partners and our customers. To date we have not issued any statement on our withdrawal from NAB."

Goodman didn't comment on reports that Sony just released a policy internally barring employees from nonessential travel. Sony has booked its customary NAB Show display space in the rear of the LVCC's Central Hall and plans a news conference there the morning of April 19 just before the exhibit floor is scheduled to open.

More Cancellations?

America's Communications Association said Tuesday its March 17-19 Washington event would go on (see 2003030053). "All that changed for us in 48 hours," President Matt Polka told us after the group announced Thursday the summit will be postponed (see 2003050013). He said the "spiral" of growing health concerns plus the FCC and Capitol Hill restrictions on visitors and their increased use of work-from-home policies meant ACA members would have less opportunity for agency and Hill meetings.

Industry veterans said COVID-19 appears to be unprecedented in its effects. The last pandemic of the same scope that some fear will come to pass in coming months was an outbreak of influenza A H2N2 virus that killed 1.1 million worldwide in the late 1950s. “I don’t recall anything at this level -- nothing of this magnitude whatsoever,” said Brian Fontes, president of the National Emergency Number Association and former FCC chief of staff. The only thing ex-commission engineer Michael Marcus could remember that’s comparable was problems caused by the 2001 anthrax attacks, which led federal agencies to increase security.

More canceled events are likely, though all that does is slow the spread of the disease, said Thomas Russo, chief-infectious disease at University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, in an interview. That can buy time until treatments and vaccines are developed, said Russo, who was to attend an international academic conference in Cleveland next week until it got canceled. Such cancellations aren't an overreaction because the potential ramifications for infection with COVID-19 are unknown, though current data indicates a mortality rate that is "concerningly high" and several times higher than the influenza virus, he said.

At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce panel Thursday, U.S. Travel Association President Roger Dow and American Hotel and Lodging Association President Chip Rogers said since there hasn't been a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory against domestic travel, canceling travel plans and trade shows is unnecessary. Americans continuing to travel and trade shows continuing to take place are “critical” to the economy, said Chamber President Thomas Donohue.

At a New America Foundation panel Tuesday, University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Director Michael Osterholm also advised against quarantines and cancellations, saying he doesn’t believe they will be effective in stopping the disease. “We need to normalize our response to this,” he said. “There is widespread transmission going on in this country right now, it’s just being missed,” he said.

FCC Plans Unclear

An FCC public notice released Wednesday appeared to indicate the agency won’t send representatives to the NAB Show, but subsequent information from the agency made that less clear. The PN says agency staff won’t travel to large gatherings with numerous international attendees, but a Media Bureau spokesperson emailed Thursday that the issue of attendance at the NAB Show hadn’t been decided. It's “too soon” to make a determination about NAB or any other upcoming events, the bureau said. FCC and industry officials also said individual commissioners are still deciding how the guidance affects their travel plans. Warren Communications News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FCC about its plans related to COVID-19.

Commissioner Brendan Carr is still scheduled to speak at some NAB Show events, and a March 16 field hearing on 5G and big data at the Wayne State University School of Law in Detroit (see 2002270030) is set to go forward as planned, we were told Thursday. Spokespersons for FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., confirmed they still plan to attend. An FTC spokesperson said a supermajority of attendees is expected to travel by bus or car, but panelists will be a mix of stakeholders from the Detroit community and those from around the country. Planners expect to release a list of participants and a formal agenda for the four-hour event Monday, the spokesperson said: “No one’s dropped out.”

The virus could still affect the meeting plans of some entities within the FCC. The Communications, Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council plans to do its March 17 meeting electronically, it said in a public notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's March 27 meeting will be conducted telephonically and via streaming because of COVID-19 concerns, the agency said. The FCC also intends to hold as scheduled a meeting of the precision agriculture task force March 25. Designated Federal Officer Jesse Jachman, a Wireline Bureau staffer, told us the task force will review options on how to conduct the meeting, which may include teleconference, in light of the FCC’s announcement Wednesday. Technological Advisory Council members said they were told their March 24 meeting will be web-based, with a decision pending on whether meeting facilities will be available.

FTC officials declined our requests for details on their plans for the virus. It's "taking proactive steps to ensure that we are following the guidance being provided to agencies by the CDC, OPM, and others," emailed a spokesperson. She said it's maximizing telework and asking staff who may be ill stay home.

Federal executive-branch agencies and departments preparing should ensure as many employees as possible are "telework ready," the Office of Personnel Management recommended this week. It said federal workers who spend time in particular countries designated as "Do Not Travel" by the State Department because of COVID-19 should stay home and monitor their health for 14 days after returning to the U.S.

AT&T emailed that it instituted an employee travel ban, with no international travel and limits on domestic travel. It said it didn't take part in last month's RSA Conference information security gathering in San Francisco, and had announced it wouldn't be at Barcelona's Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. MWC was subsequently canceled (see 2002120056). AT&T also had said it would sit out next week's Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Orlando. It was canceled Thursday.

NCTA said it instituted a nonessential travel ban restricting travel to conferences and events, especially those with a large number of international attendees. It said all international travel is banned. The association said the policy "will be evaluated regularly as we receive updates from the public health authorities." USTelecom emailed that it is "evaluating attendance at events and staff travel on a case-by-case basis.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise wireless networking subsidiary Aruba tweeted Thursday it will replace its Atmosphere 2020 event, scheduled for later this month in Las Vegas, with video, streaming and small local events. That's due to concerns over the virus.

Others Moving Forward

Other organizations' events are continuing forward, they told us. The Free State Foundation’s annual policy conference Tuesday is still “a go,” said President Randolph May. Association of Federal Communications Commission Engineers and the Media Institute staff and volunteers their planned March luncheons will still happen. The institute's March 25 one is with FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. See our calendar.

With a March 17 event, New America is “keeping an eye on the situation,” emailed spokesperson Kate Krauss, and will livestream and record the ranking digital rights gathering. It’s asking people to avoid visiting the offices if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms, have been exposed to anyone with COVID-19 or have been in a CDC-designated level two or three country.

The Consortium for School Networking’s March 16-18 conference in Washington may have about 1,000 attendees, on par with the last such event, said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger. It’s “a fluid situation” and people “are asking questions,” he emailed Thursday. There will be “ample bottles of hand sanitizer the hotel will provide in public areas” of the event, the group wrote members Monday. In lieu of buffet lunches, conference-goers will get “individually wrapped ‘grab ‘n go’ meals.”

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which isn’t canceling its four events through April 15, has had some speakers from outside the Washington area end their participation because of company travel bans, ITIF Vice President Daniel Castro emailed. “In those cases, we have always been able to find someone local or not subject to a ban.” Registrations for the events on technology (see here, here and here) and antitrust (here) are running as expected, the group's staff told us.

NEDAS is monitoring the situation as it goes “full steam ahead” with its April 16 summit: “If for any reason it is determined that the Coronavirus might be an impediment to a safe and successful meeting, we will look to reschedule the Symposium for a future date.”

No decision has been made on some upcoming industry meetings, spokespeople said. That includes the Wireless ISP Association’s meeting in Dallas, March 16-19. The Competitive Carriers Association’s show in Dallas March 30-April 1 is still on. “The vast majority of CCA attendees are U.S.-based, and CCA has proactively reached out to companies with offices in China and affected areas to ensure their plans are to send only U.S.-based employees,” CCA says. “We will continue to monitor the situation and intend to contact anyone registered from Asia or any areas significantly impacted.”