Comment by merqurio | Hacker News Reader

Comment by merqurio | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

The MWC was going to be attended by 100,000 people, 75% of them from Europe and the US, 10% from Asia-Pacific (excluding China) and 9% from the rest of the world. Only 6% of visitors were going to be from China, and less were expected much less due to the COVD-19.

Can any of them come infected by the COVD-19?

The probability is very low. Almost all of the participants will come from areas where the presence of the COVD-19 is nil or extremely low.

By comparison, a number of passengers equivalent to three times the MWC go through the airports of Atlanta or Los Angeles, two times pass through the airports of London, Paris or Amsterdam each day, and 1.5 times through Madrid and Barcelona each day. And none of them closed so far.

The basic hygiene measures (handwashing, not sneezing or coughing to the open) and common sense are more solid and effective.

If we follow the same line of thinking (we shouldn't), we would have to close all the airports tomorrow.

edit: typo

> where the presence of the COVD-19 is nil or extremely low

I don't think this is known or knowable at the moment. Hence the worry.

You are right that airports are probably a greater risk. Perhaps they should be closed. On the other hand, that would be far more disruptive.

As for basic hygiene, yes, we all should. At the same time, we all know that a significant fraction of the population can't or won't do this.

Edit: Here's the proper method: https://www.who.int/gpsc/clean_hands_protection/en/

A significant caveat is that the sink/restroom must allow proper handwashing. Many lack paper towels, for example. If you have to touch the faucet handle or the door after you start washing (which takes two minutes), the method has not been followed. It's harder than it looks.

We have a good understanding of what's happening outside mainland China[1], and China seems (surprisingly) transparent so far. But it is indeed difficult to trust that they have reported 100% of the cases.

[1]: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.h...

Yep, keep seeing how people use their freshly washed hand to pull open a door.

It only takes one person leaving without washing their hands for the irony to be apparent.

This is one primary reason why I'm not a fan of the hit air blowers to dry hands (rather than paper towels).

Apparently they're also good for blowing bacteria around the room. But at least we're saving the planet. Hooray.

I think once the first high profile cancellations (LG, Ericsson) came in it was just a matter of time. We were prepared to go still but one by one everyone we were supposed to meet started canceling. The domino effect of the first cancellations doomed the event.

What is the harm caused by MWC being cancelled?

A lot of money is wasted. Presumably sales at a lot of companies take some incremental hit. Some startup that planned this as their launch event is screwed. A lot of people in Barcelona don't make money they were expecting to make. (Other Barcelona residents breathe a sigh of relief.) So, yes, there's harm even if the decision was probably the rational one.

I work at a startup where we invested quite a bit of time and money for this show. It is a big hit for the smaller companies since it eats away a large chunk of your marketing budget.

> Only 6% of visitors were going to be from China, and less were expected much less due to the COVD-19.

Holding MWC without Huawei, ZTE, BBK, Xiaomi and co. is pretty much meaningless

Reply on news.ycombinator.com