Major Tech Companies To Go "virtual" At CES 2022 Citing Covid-19 Concerns

(RTTNews) - Tech companies like T-Mobile, Lenovo, AT&T, TikTok are reducing their presence at CES 2022 due to rising Covid-19 cases. The CES is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas during the first week of January.

T-Mobile said on Tuesday that its CEO Mike Sievert will no longer deliver a keynote presentation either in person or virtually and the company will bring down to a large extent, its physical presence at the show. Meta and Twitter had also issued statements that they would not attend the show in person.

On Wednesday, TikTok and AT&T followed, with TikTok stating that it will only attend the event online.

On Thursday, Lenovo announced the cancellation of its on-site CES plans as well. "Lenovo as a company has decided to withdraw in-person activities in Las Vegas for CES 2022," the company announced.

Even though T-Mobile will continue to remain a sponsor of the event, most of its team will not be there at Vegas. The company 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."

TikTok was concerned about the uptick in COVID cases in the US as the omicron variant spreads. "In light of the increase in positive COVID-19 cases across the country," the company said in a statement, "TikTok has decided to host a virtual TikTok CES experience for our brands and partners."

Amazon, Twitter, Meta and Pinterest have also dropped out of attending CES in person, while an Nvidia spokesperson said the company has been "cautious from the start" and is set to deliver a virtual address on January 4.

Amazon said in a statement, "due to the quickly shifting situation and uncertainty around the omicron variant, we will no longer have an on-site presence at CES." In its statement, Twitter said that it holds "the safety and health of our people and our partners as our #1 priority. With that in mind, due to the spike in COVID cases across the country in the past week, we've decided to cancel our in-person presence at CES next month."

Meta said it will participate in the event virtually but that "out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees, we won't be attending CES in-person due to the evolving public health concerns related to COVID-19."

With the emergence of the highly infectious omicron variant, which is now the dominant strain in the US, cases are seeing an upswing again in the country.