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Coronavirus Likely To Prevent China From Attending High Point Furniture Market

International travel restrictions because of the coronavirus may impact attendance at the upcoming High Point Furniture Market. Photo courtesy of High Point Market Authority.

China will likely not be represented at the upcoming High Point Furniture Market. Coronavirus fears are expected to impact overall attendance.

The semiannual furniture event usually attracts up to 80,000 attendees, many from other countries.

The News & Record reports that China will likely sit out this year's market, which begins on April 25th.

The country, which would normally send the second-largest contingent of furniture buyers and exhibitors, has been paralyzed by the virus, which originated there. Many factories in China have been shut down, and international business travel has been severely restricted.

Tom Conley, president and CEO of the High Point Market Authority, says that no industry people or businesses from China have registered for the event.

It remains to be seen how many other countries will restrict business travel. Canada is usually the market's top source of international attendees. Conley says Canadian registration is actually higher than it was during the previous event last spring. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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