COVID-19 outbreak in the United States

Cancellation of the 2020 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting

March 11, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

After careful consideration, the AAP, ASCI, and APSA have made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 Joint Meeting scheduled to take place in Chicago April 3-5, 2020.

The decision to cancel our annual event was not taken lightly. We have been closely monitoring updates and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as state and local governments. In the last week, we’ve also learned of the increasing number of travel advisories and restrictions being placed on health care providers, hospitals, and other institutions in the United States and globally.

The leaders of the AAP, ASCI, and APSA also recognize, in the context of the available data, the importance of avoiding the potential of contributing to disease spread by convening a meeting of more than 800 participants, including physician-scientist leaders, trainees, and students. As with so many of the other actions being taken globally, this is ultimately a public health measure.

The 2020 Joint Meeting will not be rescheduled. We hope to migrate certain features of the meeting to the 2021 Joint Meeting, to be held April 9-11 at the Fairmont Chicago. We will update members as a plan is developed. We understand how important the Joint Meeting is, particularly to physician-scientists, new members of the ASCI and AAP, and award winners. Please rest assured that the 2021 meeting will honor all of the 2020 honorees as well as additional honorees who will be determined over the next year as usual.

If you are registered to attend the meeting, we will be in touch with you directly with next steps regarding the refund of registration fees. If you have a reservation at the Fairmont Chicago for the purpose of attending the Joint Meeting, you must contact the Fairmont directly to cancel your reservation: 800-526-2008 or 312-565-8000. If you have made airline reservations, many carriers recognize the severity of the outbreak and are providing flexibility on cancellations.

We thank you for your efforts, as ever, to care for those who may be affected in your community, and we wish you the best of health.

Sincerely,

Mary Klotman, MD
AAP President

W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD
ASCI President

Resources about the COVID-19 outbreak

The ASCI strongly encourages all readers of this notice (particularly those who are older or who have underlying medical conditions) to be vigilant of their hygiene habits and to be aware of and follow local, institutional, state, and government guidance regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. Resources of note:

• World Health Organization information center:
  https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information:
  • Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/index.html
  • People at Risk for Serious Illness from COVID-19
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html
• Tracking the outbreak (note that counts of confirmed COVID-19 cases differ among these reports):
  • US, via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html
  • US, via the New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
  • Global, via the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
    https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6