HIMSS20 canceled

HIMSS canceled the 2020 global health conference and exhibition March 5, citing recent reports from the World Health Organization and the CDC.

In an update posted to the conferences website, the organization said it was “clearly necessary to cancel” the conference.

“We recognize all the hard work that so many have put into preparing for their presentations and panels that accompany every HIMSS conference,” Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS, says in the update. “Based on evaluation of evolving circumstances and coordination with an external advisory panel of medical professionals to support evidence-based decision making, it is clear that it would be an unacceptable risk to bring so many thousands of people together in Orlando next week.”

This is the first time the show, which regularly draws tens of thousands of attendees, has been canceled in 58 years, the update says.

The organization was facing outside pressure from prospective attendees to cancel the conference due to the increased spread of the coronavirus, but the organization held firm and announced March 2 that President Donald J. Trump had been scheduled to attend on the first day of the conference.

Several companies had already announced their plans not to attend including Cisco, citing coronavirus concerns.

The update says that exhibitors and attendees would be contacted later with further information on booth contracts and registrations.

Further information can be found here.