Barring a few changes in plans (and there are still months of leeway for that), The Mobile World Congress 2021 will take place from June 28 to July 1 in Barcelona. As is always the case in this type of event, planning takes several months, so if we go to its official website, we can see that there are already many companies that have confirmed their attendance, and a large portion of the logistics have already been deployed. In other words, today it appears the organization is pretty sure it will happen.
After a really bleak year 2020, which left an imprint on us, it will take years to get over it completely, We are opening the year 2021 with more vaccines arriving than expected In many parts of the world, although there is still a long time to reach vaccine population levels that will allow us to restore something close enough to be normal “forever”, it is impossible (and wrongly) not to be faced this year with some optimism. My question, and I have no clear opinion on that, is whether the organization of the Mobile World Congress is not overly optimistic.
Canceling the Mobile World Congress 2020, a year ago now, It was one of the first slaps the Coronavirus gave us. At that time, in mid-February, there was still a lot of uncertainty about this, and although the infection rate in Italy was already very high, in many other countries, such as Spain, it was still a few weeks before. that. It began to arrive. It seems unbelievable, after a year, to think about everything that has happened.
Therefore, if the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress 2020 is a sign of all the bad things that are yet to come, then it is impossible not to read the announcement of the Mobile World Congress 2021 call only in the opposite key, i.e., like A sign that everything is back to normalLittle by little we get our lives back. And it comes at a time when people and companies need this type of signal very often. Maybe too much?
Remember that Mobile World Congress is the largest telephone trade fair in the world, With an average subscriber that generally exceeds 100,000 people who come from all over the world to spend these days in Barcelona. It is true that the organization’s forecast this year has halved these numbers, or about 50,000 people. But if we anticipate the current situation for a few months, it seems that June is still too early for Barcelona to receive 50,000 visitors, in addition, they will interact with each other before returning to their countries of origin.
The organization says so Several measures will be taken to ensure safety: Mask will be mandatory throughout the event, and it is understood that cleaning measures will be taken to the maximum. Moreover, the organization will require that all Mobile World Congress participants have a negative PCR with a maximum “lifetime” of 72 hours prior to your arrival at the event. The problem is that during these three days a person can become infected and, as a result, the pathogen is transferred to the exhibition.
Danger, in the first place, It endangers Barcelona’s security, Which during the Mobile World Congress could become a huge reservoir for the multiple variants of the coronavirus that existed at that time, putting the city’s residents at great risk, and in a very complex situation for Barcelona’s health institutions. But we must also remember that the vast majority of these 50,000 people will later return, possibly along with the pathogen, to their places of origin.
I would like to be more optimistic, and perhaps the passage of months, the course of disease and vaccinations between now and June will allow us to see this from another perspective. Even now, however, I think the risks outweigh the benefits, so it makes sense to wait until the end of the year, or even if it’s complicated, Sacrifice this year’s edition, as it should have done with last year, And return to normal with Mobile World Congress 2022.
What is your opinion? Do you think it makes sense to celebrate Mobile World Congress 2021 in person in June? Do you think the benefits outweigh the risks? What decision would you make about it if it was in your power?
