Walmart, which touts "aggressive" plans for expansion into health and wellness among near-term initiatives (see 2102180034), announced Wednesday it will make COVID-19 vaccination records available to customers digitally using the open, interoperable Smart Health Cards standard being developed under the Vaccination Credential Initiative, co-chaired by The Commons Project Foundation (TCP). Customers vaccinated at Walmart and Sam’s Club will be able to view their vaccination records through the free Health Pass by Clear app and TCP’s Android CommonHealth and CommonPass apps to verify their vaccine status for return to travel, work, school, sports events, entertainment and other venues “while protecting their health data privacy,” said Walmart. More than 50 organizations use Health Pass, Walmart said.
More than six in 10 consumers believe ending a COVID-19 payment deferral program prematurely or with insufficient explanation can significantly damage a brand’s reputation, reported Gartner Wednesday. It canvassed about 300 consumers in December, finding 55% believe deferred payments are an “ethical issue” more than a business consideration, it said. Nine in 10 respondents said they expect companies to help their customers in times of economic hardship, said Gartner. Its research found two-thirds of consumers don’t expect their lives to even begin to return to pre-pandemic normalcy for at least six months, even if fully vaccinated. A third of the public worries their personal finances will remain precarious for at least another year. “For most consumers, the pandemic is an ongoing, unabated crisis,” said Gartner analyst Jennifer Sigler. “Corporate statements that suggest a return to normal operations may feel too abrupt or downright inappropriate right now.”
“Macro events” of the past year helped “shine a light on the many benefits of the secular shift to the cloud and digital transformation,” said Smartsheet CEO Mark Mader on a quarterly call Tuesday. The company bills itself as a leading cloud-based “dynamic work" platform. When lockdowns began last March, customers went through “an initial adjustment period,” focused mainly on “business continuity and employee safety,” said Mader. They soon seemed "to recognize that this new normal compelled them to think differently about how they operate and which tools they would need to navigate a new reality,” he said. The COVID-19 enterprise response “proved that organizations have the capacity to adapt rapidly to changing conditions, even using change as an opportunity to more deeply connect individuals to their work and their company's missions,” said Mader.
Imax grossed $6.2 million from an Avatar rerelease in China last weekend, generating 30% of the film’s receipts despite playing on 1% of the screens, said the company Sunday. Imax credited “pent-up demand for theatrical blockbusters that awaits cinemas around the world as they reopen” from lockdowns ordered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Colliers analyst Steven Frankel expects a “rebound in the fundamentals” this year for Imax due to its strong ties to influential filmmakers and a “vast global network,” he wrote investors Monday. There are near-term challenges and an “uncertain path” to a return to normal behavior, but “at some point Imax is positioned to benefit from pent-up demand and a slew of high-profile releases,” said Frankel. With limited theater reopenings in New York and San Francisco, “we are getting closer to the turn.”
Pfizer found through recent “stability testing” that its COVID-19 vaccine can be safely stored for two weeks in a regular household freezer, Frank D'Amelio, chief financial officer and executive vice president-supply chain, told a Barclays investor conference Thursday. It previously said the vaccine could be refrigerated normally for five days once it’s thawed from a shipping temperature of 70 below zero, he said. “In terms of our cold chain requirements, they have not been an impediment in any way relative to our ability to deliver the vaccine on time or in terms of vaccine provisioning.” Pfizer’s commitment was to deliver 100 million doses to the U.S. government by the end of March, and “we're now at 120 million,” said D'Amelio. Its commitment to deliver 200 million doses by the end of July will now be met by the end of May, he said. It’s on pace to deliver 2 billion doses for the full year, up from the original target on 1.3 billion, and “we're working to improve upon that number as well,” he said. “From my perspective, very significant improvement in terms of our supply chain capabilities.” President Joe Biden announced Thursday he will direct states to make all adult Americans eligible for a vaccine by May 1.
ICANN's June 14-17 in-person policy conference to have been in The Hague will instead be virtual, the group's board decided Thursday. "Barriers" to "holding and appropriately planning in-person international meetings" include "restrictions on international travel, limited flight availability, physical distancing requirements, risks posed to the local host community, and the possibility of a resurgence resulting in further lockdowns," the group said of COVID-19.
Microsoft believes Teams can “coalesce” the “critical mass of capabilities” that hybrid workplaces will need much like smartphones obviated the need for consumers to carry separate flip phones, MP3 players and cameras, Corporate Vice President Jared Spataro told a Jeffries virtual investor conference Wednesday. Microsoft sees “such an opportunity” for Teams to become as essential to employees as Outlook and the Microsoft Office suite, he said. “As we think about the first digital revolution of our business,” it was using “PC power” to promote “the digitization of paperwork,” he said. The digital transformation “we're all going through right now” is about the “digitization of space and of time,” he said. “We believe every company is going to need an organizing layer that allows them to transcend the space and time,” by bringing employees together “even when they're not physically together,” he said.
Employee enthusiasm is high for returning to the physical office, a year after work-from-home orders began, reported Eden Workplace. The startup markets a suite of software for hybrid offices. It canvassed 1,000 office workers mid-February, finding 85% want to return “in some capacity,” with most citing the desire to reengage with their co-workers as their top rationale. More than six in 10 want strict enforcement of COVID-19 health and safety protocols as a condition, and a quarter would support stiff reprimands against rule flaunters. Two-thirds oppose resuming in-person meetings without mask mandates and social distancing policies in force.
COVID-19-related timing provision adjustments are extended through May 10, the Copyright Office said Tuesday. Originally to expire May 12, 2020, adjustments previously were extended to July 10, Sept. 8, Nov. 9, Jan. 8 (see 2011090029) and March 9.
Imax Q4 revenue was $56 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down 55% from the 2019 quarter, said the company Thursday. It installed 33 systems and signed 11 agreements in the quarter, ending the year with 527 systems in backlog. CEO Richard Gelfond said the company is “encouraged to see that audiences are eager to return to the movies where the virus is under control, and they feel safe." For 2021, he cited strong demand in Imax theaters in Asia, a "promising pipeline" of Hollywood movies and the accelerating pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in North America: “We remain confident and optimistic that the global film industry is poised for a strong and sustainable recovery in the second half of 2021."