On Thursday 5th March 2020, a leading US healthcare conference, HIMSS announced the cancellation of its 2020 health tech exhibition due to the Coronavirus.
Earlier in the week Amazon, Intel, Cisco and Salesforce all backed out of the health-tech conference HIMSS.
It’s the first time in 58 years the company said that the event has had to be cancelled, the company said “it is clearly necessary to cancel the 2020 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition.”
Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS “We recognise all the hard work that so many have put into preparing for their presentations and panels that accompany every HIMSS conference.”
“Based on evaluation of evolving circumstances and coordination with an external advisory panel of medical professionals to support evidence-based decision making, it is clear that it would be an unacceptable risk to bring so many thousands of people together in Orlando next week.”
The announcement followed the recent reports from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The company said it recognised the potential reach of the virus had changed significantly, which has made it impossible to accurately assess risk.
Additionally, there were concerns about the disproportionate risk to the healthcare system given the unique medical profile that would attend the exhibition.
