Apple Event COVID-19 Message Might Be A Preview Of Things To Come

Yesterday's virtual Apple event came with something new, and I'm not talking about technology. As the event came to an end, a series of disclaimers revealing the precautions put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 during production flashed across the screen. While this is tied directly to the Apple event, one has to wonder if these are the types of disclaimers we'll be seeing across productions and presentations in the near future.

The Apple event from June 22 came with the following disclaimers at the very end. Here are some screenshots.

The list of precautions includes "Daily health screenings and temperature checks"; "Proper social distancing was practiced and actively monitored"; "Face coverings were provided and worn by everyone except the on-camera presenter"; 'Only the crew and the presenter were in the areas where the production took place"; "When multiple presenters were featured, they were properly isolated from one another." Oh, also, because we currently live in a surreal nightmare, Apple will also allow users to add a face mask to their Memoji with iOS 14. Welcome to the future!

As film productions gear back up, there are specific guidelines being totted out for cast and crew – you can read some here. One has to wonder if the end-credits disclaimers that Apple flashed at the end of their event will be par for the course going forward. Are we about to enter an era where coronavirus precautions will be included alongside messages confirming "no animals were harmed in the making of this film"? Or is this just something Apple took it upon themselves to do, in order to head off any questions about proper procedure and precautions? There's really no precedent here to go off of, as the Apple event is the first incident where this sort of disclaimer has popped-up.

Other conferences or live events – like Comic-Con, or any other major con that springs to mind – could also be following Apple's lead in the future and use similar precautions for crowds and presenters.

You can watch the full Apple special event keynote below.