i3 - May/June 2020 - 2

From the CEO

COVID-19 has Changed Us

MAY/JUNE 2020

i3_0520_FOB_CeoLetter.indd 2

Gary Shapiro,
President and CEO

David McNew/Getty Images

As of this writing, the coronavirus is still
sweeping the nation. It is defining our era. It
will serve as a major marker in our lives.
For me, the advantage of this time is it has
made us more human. But we miss the joy of
shared birthdays, graduations and sporting
events. Many have even been denied bedside
goodbyes and graveside grieving for loved ones
Our innovalost. We have virtualized our world. But we
tion industry
know it is not the same as being there.
is adapting
Good things have come out of this horrible
and allows
experience. We have reconnected with many
friends and relatives. We have helped our felothers to
low humans in ways we never thought possiadapt. For
ble. In March, our everyday lives were
that,
we are
transformed and now we share the common
all better off.
experience of masks, gloves, home stays and
ensuring as many of us survive as possible.
I feel a little guilty enjoying the continuous
time with my wife and children. I realize this
is the longest time I've spent with my family.
It is also the longest time I have not flown or
traveled. On the upside, I tuck my children in, kiss them every
night and can be with my wife. I have some unstructured time. I
exercise almost every day. I enjoy home-cooked, nutritious meals.
And although my wife had an extremely mild form of a virus, at
this point none of us appears to have gotten it. She was thrilled
recently that she received a positive antibody test. (As of this
writing I have not taken a test.)
COVID-19 has also affected CTA. We canceled or virtualized all
our events through the summer. We are planning a great CES, but
we know it will be smaller and that no business event in the next

12 months is a certainty. We offered all our exhibitors a refund, better payment terms and booth
reduction flexibility. We are thrilled that very few
canceled and many have told us CES is a more
important event than ever.
CTA has tried to be there for the industry. We
have offered webinars, research, communications
and assistance. We worked with the White House
and Amazon Web Services to create a website promoting telemedicine and several rule changes
encouraging remote monitoring and testing by
the health care community. Our Health
Technology and Fitness Division has been
extremely active and effective in shifting us to this.
In fact, Microsoft Chief Medical Officer David
Rhew, the chair of the division, shifted into a
global role supervising the coronavirus response.
I am pretty sure no association was an earlier
or stronger advocate for COVID-19 antibody
testing. We inspired the early Wall Street
Journal editorial on this issue, and my wife, a
doctor, included it among a series of recommendations in a Medium post which went viral.
Technology is providing multiple solutions to
the coronavirus challenge. Whether it's helping
locate supplies, anticipate needs, work from
home or allow remote patient monitoring and
telehealth, the tech industry is doing good. Tech
is a wonderful tool, and innovation is cool again.
As horrible as the coronavirus experience has
been, it is making us better as an industry, as a
nation and hopefully, even as a world. The mantra I have been repeating through this crisis
comes from a speech delivered in 1963 by a
Louisiana State University business professor
named Leon Megginson on Charles Darwin's
writings: "It is not the strongest which will survive. It is not the fastest which will survive. It is
those that can adapt to changing circumstances."
Our industry is adapting and allows others to
adapt. For that, we are all better off. I wish you
health and safety in this most difficult year.

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

5/7/20 11:23 AM

https://www.techhealthdirectory.com/ https://www.techhealthdirectory.com/

i3 - May/June 2020

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