Dear Colleagues,
As you know, we had hoped to re-organise the World Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease as a physical congress in Barcelona, from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 August 2020. However, the continuing disruption to travel, and wish to avoid major gatherings as a consequence of theCOVID-19 pandemic, has led to the recent announcement by the Spanish authorities that some people crossing their borders may be subject to a two-week quarantine. Since it remains unclear as to which nationals this decision will apply to, and how long it will be enforced, there is a strong probability that many of our registrants will be unable to enter Spain and to attend an on-site WCO in Barcelona, this August.
In view of this force majeure,the WCO organisers, together with their partner organisations (IOF and ESCEO), have taken a decision to arrange a virtual Congress over the same dates. This will take the form of a series of “live” virtual presentations (including all the plenary lectures and Meet-the -Expert sessions) which will be moderated by chairpersons, allowing the opportunity for participants to ask questions of the presenters; in addition, there will be live and pre-recorded presentations including submitted oral abstracts, non-sponsored satellite symposia, posters and industry symposia. Pre-recorded materials will be available for registrants to view through the dedicated Congress website, for three months after the opening of the meeting.
Further details of these arrangements will be sent to all registrants, speakers and presenters as soon as possible, but we felt you should know about this re-scheduling to a virtual congress, with immediate effect. We hope you agree that this new format to our WCO will permit you to join in the major advances in our field, during a period of unprecedented global uncertainty. Many thanks for your support, and we look forward to welcoming you to this first virtual WCO from 20-23 August 2020.
With all best wishes,
For the Organising Committee
Cyrus COOPER, Jean-Yves REGINSTER, John KANIS, René RIZZOLI
