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Coronavirus Update: Google I/O, Facebook F8 and other 2020 tech conference cancellations and travel bans

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Coronavirus: How companies can handle employee travel
CDC defines exposure risk for airplane travelers, and firms encourage working from home for people who have been traveling in China.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to declare the current coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. But as the infectious disease continues to spread and public health concerns rise, the WHO categorizes the risk from the virus as “very high”. As of Tuesday, health officials reported more than 90,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease and over 3,100 deaths, including 172 outside of mainland China (the epicenter of the outbreak) and 6 in Washington state. The virus has been detected in more than 73 countries and territories and the overall effect on global health is till unknown.

latest developments

Coronavirus: Business and technology in a pandemic

From cancelled conferences to disrupted supply chains, not a corner of the global economy is immune to the spread of COVID-19.

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In last week’s Monday Morning Opener, Larry Dignan examined how the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is affecting global supply chains and consumer demand. On Friday he looked at how the disease may accelerate the future of work, including an increase in telecommuting, greater importance on video conferencing and digital collaboration technology, and less travel. As Larry wrote, “One thing is certain: The coronavirus is likely to mean the definition of business, as usual, will change.”

SEE: Coronavirus having major effect on tech industry beyond supply chain delays (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

While we won’t know the coronavirus’ effects on the overall nature of work for some time, one sector of the tech economy that’s already feeling an immediate impact is industry events. Whether as a result of travel bans, laws banning large gatherings, or an abundance of caution, officials are being canceling, postponing, or converting tech events to virtual conferences…leaving show organizers, attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors scrambling to make alternative plans. Companies are also instituting travel restrictions for employees. So, I decided to use this Monday Morning Opener to compile a list of the events that have been called off, pushed back, changed format, or are being held as scheduled.

Note: The coronavirus’ effect on the tech industry is a rapidly-changing story. We will do our best to update this list as news of conference cancellations and travel restrictions breaks.

Also: Coronavirus: Effective strategies and tools for remote work during a pandemic 

Tech conferences canceled, postponed, or going virtual

SEE: Facebook cancels F8: How the coronavirus is disrupting tech conferences worldwide (TechRepublic)

Major tech companies institute travel restrictions and work-from-home policies due to coronavirus

As of February 29, 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued multiple travel warnings due to the coronavirus disease. The CDC recommends travelers avoid nonessential travel to China, Iran, South Korea, and Italy.

Amazon has asked all of its 798,000 employees to stop all nonessential travel, both domestic and internationally, immediately, according to an Amazon spokesperson. After a Google employee in Switzerland tested positive for coronavirus, the company expanded employee travel restrictions. Twitter has canceled all non-essential employee travel until further notice, including CEO Jack Dorsey’s appearance at SXSW. On Monday, Twitter also asked employees, which the company refers to as Tweeps, to work from home if possible. “We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our Tweeps healthy,” the company said in a blog post.

On Monday, Salesforce announced a series of employee health and safety measures for the month of March, “including prohibiting cross border travel, restricting all but the most critical domestic travel, replacing our in-person customer events with digital experiences, and enhancing our office protocols to ensure we provide the healthiest work environment possible.”

Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and others have also implemented employee travel restrictions.

ZDNET’S MONDAY MORNING OPENER:

The Monday Morning Opener is our opening salvo for the week in tech. Since we run a global site, this editorial publishes on Monday at 8am AEST in Sydney, Australia, which is 6pm Eastern Time on Sunday in the US. It is written by a member of ZDNet’s global editorial board, which is comprised of our lead editors across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

Updated March 2, 2020: Updated coronavirus statistics, added information about Salesforce, added information about Twitter’s employee travel restrictions and updated list of conference cancellations.

Updated March 3, 2020 6:03pm EST: Added information about Twitter’s work from home announcement and updated the list of conference cancellations and reordered alphabetically by conference name.

Article source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/coronavirus-update-2020-tech-conference-cancellations-and-travel-bans/#ftag=RSSbaffb68