SIR Cancels 2020 Annual Meeting Due to COVID-19 Outbreak in Seattle

March 6, 2020—The Executive Committee of SIR 2020, the annual meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology announced that the SIR and SIR Foundation leadership have decided to cancel the SIR 2020 meeting that was scheduled for March 20 to April 2 in Seattle, Washington. The decision was made as a result of the spread of COVID-19 novel coronavirus and recommendations to limit public gatherings by public health agencies.

In the statement from SIR Executive Director Susan E. Sedory, and SIR President Laura Findeiss, MD, President, on behalf of the SIR Executive Council and SIR 2020 annual meeting committee, they commented, "[T]he rapidly changing circumstances and unknown nature of this virus are such that we must consider the safety and wellbeing of not just our meeting participants and staff, but their families, colleagues, and patients."

According to the SIR announcement, available online here, the Seattle and King County Public Health Department issued new public health recommendations on March 4 that are intended to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. Among these recommendations was a request to organizers of large public gatherings to avoid bringing large groups of people together and consider postponing events and gatherings. SIR's cancellation is based on these recommendations, as well as information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) information, and numerous travel restrictions issued by companies and medical institutions.

For conference registrants, information on the cancellation is available on the SIR website, here. For conference exhibitors, information on the cancellation is available on the SIR website, here.

The SIR 2020 Executive Committee advised that it is exploring options to deliver virtual meeting resources to provide the community with the research, sessions, and presentations that were planned for the Seattle meeting. SIR will regularly post updates on sirmeeting.org and other member communications channels to keep all SIR 2020 participants informed of plans.