MWC canceled because of Coronavirus COVID-19

I was planning to write some article on the mobile trends on this year based on news-feed from MWC 2020 mobile event. It seems that I have to change those plans because of this news that was just published:

The GSMA, the organization behind MWC, the world’s largest mobile trade show, has announced that it is officially canceling the show.

“The GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event,”

Links:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/12/gmsa-cancels-mobile-world-congress-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/12/21127754/mwc-2020-canceled-coronavirus-trade-show-phone-mobile-world-congress-gsma-statement

531 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nvidia’s calling on gaming PC owners to put their systems to work fighting COVID-19
    Folding@home has new projects for the study of coronavirus
    https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/nvidias-calling-on-gaming-pc-owners-to-put-their-systems-to-work-fighting-covid-19/

    If you have a gaming-ready PC, you can lend your graphical power to fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. That’s not a thing I ever thought I’d write, but it turns out 2020 is occasionally weird in good ways too.

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Some people want to ‘beat carona by drinking carona’ but can’t!

    Elsewhere in the world Corona beer has lately had trouble selling their wares. Finns being Finns play it differently and Corona beers are sold out.

    https://m.facebook.com/618173480/posts/10157167537008481/

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    IBM Summit supercomputer joins fight against COVID-19
    Oak Ridge National Laboratory says early research on existing drug compounds via supercomputing could combat coronavirus.
    https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-summit-supercomputer-joins-fight-against-covid-19/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Covid-19 Is Not the Spanish Flu
    A widely cited stat about death rates seems to argue otherwise, but it’s surely incorrect. So how’d it end up in the research literature?
    https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-is-nothing-like-the-spanish-flu/

    Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, World Health Organization officials announced an average CFR of 2 percent. Later on, they revised it up to 3.4 percent. In contrast, numerous epidemiologists have argued that the global case fatality rate is closer to 1 percent. These might seem like small differences, but when multiplied across large populations they translate to significant discrepancies in overall deaths.

    “Spanish flu fatality.” In its opening paragraph, and with essentially no context, this study lists the three incongruent figures that have been so widely repeated: 500 million infections; 50 to 100 million deaths; 2.5 percent CFR.

    a 1980 edition of a public health compendium, indicates a global CFR of 4 percent for the Spanish flu, nearly twice as high. The other, a 1976 book coauthored by a medical writer and a medical librarian, suggests that the virus had an overall infection rate of 28 percent and killed more than 22 million, which works out to a global CFR of at least 4.3 percent.

    Despite the mathematical impossibility of the Spanish flu killing at least 50 million with a 2.5 percent fatality rate, this phantom statistic has drifted far and wide, materializing everywhere from blogs, Twitter, and The New York Times to the most prestigious medical journals.

    Near the start of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, CFR estimates were 10 times too large. During the 2002-04 SARS outbreak, however, early CFR estimates were nearly three times too small.

    The novel coronavirus pandemic is a major threat that demands a swift and robust response. Even a fatality rate between 0.5 and 1 percent is extremely alarming in a world as populous and interconnected as ours.

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nation’s Nerds Wake Up In Utopia Where Everyone Stays Inside, Sports Are Canceled, Social Interaction Forbidden
    https://babylonbee.com/news/nations-nerds-wake-up-in-utopia-where-everyone-stays-inside-sports-canceled-social-interaction-forbidden

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Instagram uses its power to put coronavirus tips atop feed
    https://tcrn.ch/2vofzLM

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    What Is Social Distancing? Here Are 10 Ways To Keep The Coronavirus Away
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/14/with-covid-19-coronavirus-here-are-10-ways-to-social-distance-yourself/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie/#76616c657269

    It isn’t the subject of too many love songs or romantic comedies. But with the COVID-19 causing coronavirus pandemic, “social distancing” is becoming the new norm.

    Social distancing is a public health strategy attempting to prevent or slow the spread of an infectious pathogen like a virus. It includes any method to keep people as physically separate from each other because physical proximity is how many pathogens go from one body to another. This includes isolating people who are infected, quarantining people who may have been infected, and keeping people separate from each other in general.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why outbreaks like
    coronavirus spread
    exponentially, and how
    to “flatten the curve”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

    After the first case of covid-19, the disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus, was announced in the United States, reports of further infections trickled in slowly. Two months later, that trickle has turned into a steady current.

    This so-called exponential curve has experts worried. If the number of cases were to continue to double every three days, there would be about a hundred million cases in the United States by May.

    That is math, not prophecy. The spread can be slowed, public health professionals say, if people practice “social distancing” by avoiding public spaces and generally limiting their movement.

    Still, without any measures to slow it down, covid-19 will continue to spread exponentially for months.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Doug Casey: The “Greater Depression” Is Coming
    https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/doug-casey-greater-depression-coming

    You’ve no doubt seen the headlines on CNN and Bloomberg.

    “Coronavirus Pandemic Could Spark a Global Depression.”

    “Will China Virus Trigger New Great Depression?”

    There’s plenty of concern that the coronavirus outbreak is pushing us toward a crash. And after the market’s recent dive, the panic is only growing.

    Just because society experiences turmoil doesn’t mean your personal life has to. And a depression doesn’t have to be depressing. Most of the real wealth in the world will still exist – it will just change ownership.

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Trump julisti Yhdysvaltoihin poikkeustilan koronavirustilanteen takia ja sanoi “todennäköisesti” menevänsä testiin
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11256991?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=yleuutiset&utm_medium=social

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ventilator Maker: We Can Ramp Up Production Five-Fold
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2020/03/14/ventilator-maker-we-can-ramp-up-production-five-fold/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie/#76616c657269

    The U.S. could be on a crash course of increasing ICU capacity—if it had the will.

    The German government just placed an order for 10,000 mechanical ventilators. What’s the U.S. government doing about a potential shortage here? Not much, it seems. President Trump alluded to the matter in a press conference but did not spell out any plans.

    Ventilators pump oxygen into the lungs of a failing Covid-19 patient. U.S. hospitals have something like 62,000 up-to-date machines immediately available, plus another 99,000 obsolete units that could be pulled out of storage in an emergency, says the Society of Critical Care Medicine. If the pandemic in the U.S. veers off in the Italian direction, that entire collection may be inadequate.

    Could manufacturers of these devices boost output? Yes, but not overnight.

    “We could increase production five-fold in a 90- to 120-day period,” says Chris Kiple, chief executive of Ventec Life Systems, a Bothell, Wash. firm that makes ventilators used in hospitals, homes and ambulances. He’d have to tool up production lines, train assemblers and testers and get parts. Accelerating the parts delivery might be the toughest task, he says.

    The seven-year-old, 135-employee Ventec is a fairly small player in a market dominated by Medtronic (under the Puritan Bennett brand), GE Healthcare and Allied Healthcare in the U.S., and Hamilton Medical, Getinge, Drägerwerk and Philips Healthcare in Europe. Kiple estimates that worldwide production capacity is in the range of 40,000 to 50,000 units a year, but some of this output is of machines not suitable for intensive care units.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    “Getting it into phase 1 in a matter of months is the quickest that anyone has ever done literally in the history of vaccinology,”

    Coronavirus Vaccine Will Start Clinical Trials Within Weeks
    https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/whats-the-latest-on-the-coronavirus-vaccine-0/

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Euroopan tartuntatautivirasto on kirjannut konkreettisten toimenpiteiden listalle koulujen sulkemisen useiksi viikoiksi. Kiinasta saadut tiedot puoltavat ihmisten liikkumisen ennakoivaa rajoittamista.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/koronavirus/a/6ba4eecf-c494-4172-a2d3-8be68fa30da9

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ajatuksia herättävä Forbesin artikkeli:
    “The Corona lockdown may save more lives from pollution reduction than are threatened by the virus itself”
    What surprises the most is that the measures that we are ready to take to face this virus are much more severe than the measures we would be ready to take to face climate change or atmospheric pollution”
    Why are we so much more afraid of the coronavirus than we are of climate change or atmospheric pollution or other kinds of threats. What is so special about the coronavirus that we are ready to put the whole world on lockdown because of that?”

    Coronavirus Lockdown May Save More Lives By Preventing Pollution Than By Preventing Infection
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/03/11/coronavirus-lockdown-may-save-more-lives-from-pollution-and-climate-than-from-virus/#69bb9f15764d

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tutkimus: Koronaviruksen saaneet ihmiset ovat yleensä viisi päivää oireettomia – ”14 päivän karanteenisuositus on tällä perusteella järkevä”
    https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/tutkimus-koronaviruksen-saaneet-ihmiset-ovat-yleensa-viisi-paivaa-oireettomia-14-paivan-karanteenisuositus-on-talla-perusteella-jarkeva-tutkijat-perustelevat/

    Tutkijat ovat vahvistaneet, että koronavirus COVID-19 -tartunnan saanut voi olla oireeton mediaaniajaltaan viisi vuorokautta. Mediaani tarkoittaa lukujoukon keskimmäistä arvoa. Oireet ovat odotettavissa 12 vuorokauden kuluessa virukselle altistumisesta.

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.iltalehti.fi/paakirjoitus/a/3c2970c4-e089-492b-a0ff-536ee55ff095

    Helsingin pormestari Jan Vapaavuori kertoi sunnuntaina, että Helsinki ei laita kouluja ja päiväkoteja kiinni. Vapaavuoren mukaan ei ole olemassa näyttöä, että sulkeminen hidastaisi epidemiaa. Vapaavuoren mukaan haitat toimenpiteestä olisivat suuria, koska valtava määrä vanhempia joutuisi jäämään kotiin.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    ECDC suosittelee torjuntakeinoksi ihmisten sosiaalisen kanssakäymisen nopeaa ja tehokasta rajoittamista. Tukholmassa sijaitseva Euroopan tartuntatautivirasto on kirjannut konkreettisten toimenpiteiden listalle koulutusinstituutioiden sulkemisen. Näin ovat jo monet maat tehneetkin.

    https://www.iltalehti.fi/paakirjoitus/a/3c2970c4-e089-492b-a0ff-536ee55ff095

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    New York City Public Schools To Shut Down Due To Coronavirus
    http://on.forbes.com/61801sEuI

    Topline: New York City public schools will shut down in response to the coronavirus, ending days of public pressure from teachers and parents who have criticized New York Mayor Bill de Blasio for keeping schools open even as other districts across the country shut them down.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    What Is Social Distancing? Here Are 10 Ways To Keep The Coronavirus Away
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/14/with-covid-19-coronavirus-here-are-10-ways-to-social-distance-yourself/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie/#76616c657269
    It isn’t the subject of too many love songs or romantic comedies. But with the COVID-19 causing coronavirus pandemic, “social distancing” is becoming the new norm.

    Which leads to situation described pretty well in this satire article:

    Nation’s Nerds Wake Up In Utopia Where Everyone Stays Inside, Sports Are Canceled, Social Interaction Forbidden
    https://babylonbee.com/news/nations-nerds-wake-up-in-utopia-where-everyone-stays-inside-sports-canceled-social-interaction-forbidden

    All types of nerds, from social introverts to hardcore PC gamers, welcomed the dawn of this new era, privately from their own homes.

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Italian hospital saves Covid-19 patients lives by 3D printing valves for reanimation devices
    The supply chain was broken, people and 3D printing rose to the occasion
    https://www.3dprintingmedia.network/covid-19-3d-printed-valve-for-reanimation-device/

    One of the biggest immediate problems that coronavirus is causing is the massive number of people who require intensive care and oxygenation in order to live through the infection long enough for their antibodies to fight it. This means that the only way to save lives at this point – beyond prevention – is to have as many working reanimation machines as possible. And when they break down, maybe 3D printing can help.

    a company in the area, Isinnova, responded to this call for help through its Founder & CEO Cristian Fracassi, who brought a 3D printer directly to the hospital and, in just a few hours, redesigned and then produced the missing piece.

    [Update 15-3-2020] After the first valves were 3D printed using a filament extrusion system, on location at the hospital, more valves were later 3D printed by another local firm, Lonati SpA, using a polymer laser powder bed fusion process

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    This post is related to an earlier one about 3D printing a ventilator and writing open source software for it. Now more than ever that is a great idea.

    As The Pandemic Spreads, Will There Be Enough Ventilators?
    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/14/815675678/as-the-pandemic-spreads-will-there-be-enough-ventilators?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr

    As the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spreads across the United States, there are continuing concerns among hospitals, public health experts and government leaders that hospital intensive care units would be hard-pressed to handle a surge in seriously ill patients.

    A key limiting factor to being able to provide good care, they say, is the number of ventilation machines — ventilators — a hospital has on hand to help the most seriously ill patients breathe.

    “The coronavirus, like many respiratory viruses, can cause inflammation in the lungs,”

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How big tech is taking on COVID-19
    https://tcrn.ch/3aX6EQm

    Over the past week, one thing has become painfully clear for U.S. residents: COVID-19 is going to permeate every aspect of our lives for a long time to come. Those of us in and around tech have been noticing this for months now. First through the impact on our friends and colleagues in Asia, who have been facing fallout from the pandemic head-on for some time, and then through the domino effect on tech conferences.

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    As social distancing measure, Starbucks temporarily shifts to ‘to go’ model in US and Canada
    https://tcrn.ch/2QiLVil

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Corone video by Juicemedia
    https://www.facebook.com/141015252583163/posts/3875189752499009/

    Parody announcement video with real data…

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Valheenpaljastaja: Tervetuloa infodemian aikaan! Näistä merkeistä tunnistat koronaviruksesta levitettävän väärän tiedon
    https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2020/03/14/valheenpaljastaja-tervetuloa-infodemian-aikaan-naista-merkeista-tunnistat

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kolme lääkäriä kertoo, miten pandemiaan on jo pitkään varauduttu – Kaikkia hoidetaan, mutta hoidettavat on pantava tärkeysjärjestykseen
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11257925

    Suomessa on varauduttu siihen, että runsas kolmasosa suomalaisista sairastuu seuraavien kuukausien aikana koronaviruksen aiheuttamaan tautiin.

    Tätä lukua ei ole vedetty hatusta, vaan se on mietitty tarkkaan. Luku löytyy vuoden 2012 influenssapandemian varautumissuunnitelmasta.

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Korona iskee talouteen – Ekonomisti: Suomi syöksyy lamaan ja suurtyöttömyyteen
    perjantai 13.03.2020 klo 12:45
    GnS Economicsin mukaan Suomen talous supistuu 5 prosenttia vuonna 2020 ja 14 prosenttia vuonna 2021.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/koronavirus/a/3f993086-e576-4079-9364-9dfa4ae4785a

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Korona muuttaa maailmantaloutta pysyvästi: yritykset vetävät tuotantoa Kiinasta lähemmäs ja hyväksyvät kalliimman työn
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11256464

    Talousasiantuntijat korostavat, että yrityksiä pitää tukea poikkeuksellisilla tavoilla, jotta ne selviävät koronan tuoman kuopan yli.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Näin koronauutiset levisivät mediassa ja somessa
    https://suomenkuvalehti.fi/mediasekaantuja/nain-koronauutiset-levisivat-mediassa-ja-somessa/

    OSAATKO ARVATA, montako koronajuttua ja -uutista julkaistiin maailman verkkomedioissa eilen?

    Noin 266 000 kappaletta. Yhden päivän aikana.

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Vesi- ja energialaitosten toiminta halutaan taata myös epidemiatilanteessa – varautumisastetta on jo kohotettu
    Pienet vesilaitokset voivat olla haavoittuvia kriisitilanteessa.
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11257287

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    NVIDIA Calls On PC Gamers To Put GPUs To Work Battling Coronavirus, How To Join PC Master Race Or HotHardware
    https://hothardware.com/news/nvidia-pc-gamers-gpus-battling-coronavirus-how-to-join-pc-master-race

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How Canadian AI start-up BlueDot spotted Coronavirus before anyone else had a clue
    https://diginomica.com/how-canadian-ai-start-bluedot-spotted-coronavirus-anyone-else-had-clue

    Reply

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