Two weeks ago, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz received some heckling after posting a "No Handshakes" notice on its front entrance.
Coronavirus cases were still rare outside of China, and it was easy to dismiss the precautions as symptomatic of Silicon Valley's heightened self-importance. Now that multiple U.S. cities have declared a state of emergency, it may be worth considering the decisions of those who spend their days analyzing massive troves of user data — and considering whether that data might be used to draw any conclusions about the virus now known as COVID-19.
Amazon was one of the first companies to withdraw from last month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, over coronavirus concerns. Amazon ships products to over 100 countries around the world, so it's not surprising that they would be ahead of the curve in predicting disease outbreaks.
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