White House & Google Cancel Las Vegas Conferences Amid Fears of the Coronavirus

Since the Coronavirus outbreak in China, 56 countries have registered infections, with the USA confirming their first death from the disease. Given that the virus is still at large, big organizations can no longer hold large conferences and concerned citizens have stopped going to overcrowded spaces in fear of the virus. Such measures are have already put Macau on its knees, and it looks like Las Vegas is the next gambling hub that’s taking a beating from the outbreak.

ASEAN Summit Cancelled

Last Friday, the Trump administration cancelled their annual summit of Asian leaders following the growing alarm of the Coronavirus. The ASEAN summit- Association of Southeast Asian Nations; was to be hosted by the US in Las Vegas on 14th of this month. It is a biannual conference held to maintain the relationship between the US and the ASEAN leaders. It brings together South East Asian nations to confer on economics and security every year and has played a significant role over the years in helping solidify US influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The White House announced the cancellation of the planned presidential visit to Las Vegas for the summit to try and contain the spread of the epidemic. While Trump was in Vegas not more than a week ago to campaign for his second term presidential bid, the cancellation isn’t a surprise now that the first fatal casualty in the USA has been confirmed.

Moreover, Donald Trump also declared his plans of considering to expand the travel ban to cover countries that have reported a disproportionately high number of coronavirus cases. This will be as a precaution to reduce the movement of potentially infected people across borders.

Google also Cancel their Internal Marketing Conference

On the same note, internet giants from Alphabet Inc, Google, also announced on Friday that they have cancelled an internal sales and marketing conference that was scheduled to take place on 4th March in Las Vegas. The move was made amid concerns that such a massive gathering would be fostering the spread of the Coronavirus.

With the cancellation of the sales and marketing conference, Google now joins the list of parties affected by the Coronavirus. While it is a little premature to project how the Coronavirus will affect Alphabet Inc’s business as a whole, their advertising revenue could be at risk. Industry experts are asserting that their online advertising business could feel the pinch as thousands of small businesses are having a hard time importing their merchandise from China.

A Continuing Wave of Mass Cancellations

The two announcements are part of the mass cancellations of large gatherings for fear of encouraging the spread of Covid-19, which has proven to be a deadly respiratory virus. Facebook Inc already called off its May developer’s event while the Game Developer Conference cancellation appears imminent given that Electronic Arts Inc, Microsoft Corporation and Sony Inc have pulled out.

Berlin also cancelled a huge trade-fair event on short notice while Countries like Switzerland, on the other hand, have already banned gatherings exceeding 1,000 attendees.