Thousands of people have gathered in Las Vegas for a tech conference that’s been scaled back because of COVID-19 precautions
The floors of the CES gadget show opened Wednesday with conference attendees required to wear masks and show proof of vaccination.
The trade group hasn’t disclosed attendance numbers but said it expects tens of thousands of people for the multiday event, though not nearly as many as the 170,000 who showed up for the last physical CES two years ago. This year’s expo features 2,300 exhibitors from 19 countries, CTA said.A number of Big Tech companies pulled out ahead of the show amid concerns about the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Some of those companies are still participating digitally.
“Some people were surprised” that Hilton wasn’t there, said Amy Stroud, an NFT enthusiast who was in the standing-room-only crowd. CTA didn’t respond to a question about her absence. The number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases rose 52.1% over the preceding two weeks to 1,065 on Monday, when the state last updated its hospital data. About 1 in 6 hospital beds in the state are taken up by COVID-19 patients.