Smart businesses don’t need mandates. They can deal with the virus without government interference. FBN host Liz Claman shows us how.

Claman: Thirteen days before the event known as the world’s largest consumer electronics convention, the producers of my “Claman Countdown” show and I had been flying high. Every interview slot for our Jan. 4-6, in-person, live coverage of CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, had been filled with top-shelf names, including T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, who back in July was the first to confirm he would open the entire technology trade show as its star keynote.

Then on Dec. 22 the headline hit: “T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert dropping out of CES 2022.” The company cited prioritizing the safety of its team. OK, I reasoned, I get it. We’re in the middle of a massive outbreak of omicron, a new COVID-19 variant tearing across the nation. He’s nervous. I could understand. The show would be attracting thousands of exhibitors and attendees from 116 countries. I told myself it’ll be fine, We had so many other CEOs who were still coming and thrilled to get on the show.

But Sievert’s cancellation opened the floodgates. It was as if the Hoover Dam of show guests had broken. Citing concerns for their employees’ health, Intel, GM, Amazon, Microsoft, Mercedes, Google, Lenovo, TikTok and Facebook all pulled out. I was most stunned by Intel’s retreat. I’ve been covering CES since 2008 and every year, the world’s largest microchip manufacturer has claimed the biggest footprint – a sprawling booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center where the company spent a fortune designing a huge, glittering display of its latest silicon chips that laptop and tablet makers couldn’t run or compute without. It was a shock. When it came to CES 2022, Intel would not be living up to its old slogan “Intel Inside.”

FOX Business remained committed to sending me and a team of 10 – photographers, a technical manager, satellite truck operators, audio engineers, field producers and the network’s managing editor – to cover what was fast becoming more than just a story for business news viewers. As more names pulled out, I braced myself for what I was sure was coming: an outright cancellation of the entire show.

What happened was just the opposite, and as the Supreme Court considers President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate and COVID-19 testing rules for the nation’s businesses, justices should look closely at what appears to be a successful test of whether requiring vaccinations will be the key to the nation moving safely back to normal…

Sunday, CTA gave some final numbers. More than 2,300 businesses had voluntarily bought into the mandate and made the trip to CES, as did 4,500 attendees. Shapiro told FOX Business, “At this point, I am aware of only a few positive COVID tests of actual CES attendees.” While he declined to give specific numbers because CTA was still compiling exact figures, I can say not one of my crew tested positive, even though there were points during the three-day conference when we were surrounded by crowds. Because of the CES rules, those crowds were all masked and vaccinated.

As the Supreme Court ponders whether the federal government has the authority to impose such mandates, leaving it up to businesses to impose mandates appropriate for their workforce is a good idea and CES proves that businesses will buy into such a policy when it furthers their business interests.