A Message From Professor Rudy Nuijts, Sunday May 31, 2020

Dear Colleagues Across the world, we are dealing with an unprecedented crisis in an ever-changing environment which is fraught with uncertainty. After much careful evaluation, ESCRS has decided that, regrettably, it will not be possible to hold a live congress in Amsterdam in October. Instead, ESCRS will host a Virtual Meeting planned from Friday 2 October to Sunday 4 October. It needs no further clarification that many of us were looking forward to the event, vigorously hoping that we would have been able to rejoin in Amsterdam as one of the first international events that could open up. It would have been a great occasion to exchange our experiences, get feedback from other places in the world and also have a great time as we were used to in the “old normal”. However, I have no doubt that we will become accustomed to the new time frame and will find innovative pathways to exchange at what we do best: provide the highest level of science and education in our field. I look forward to your continued support in the coming months and encourage all of you to sign up for the virtual meeting. Further this week, in our COVID-19 newsletter we bring you news on the successes and limitations of telemedicine while Jordi Mones in Spain exhorts us that we must convince our patients that it is safe for them to return to our clinics for evaluation and treatment. Two weeks ago, our American colleagues successfully organised their annual conference from a virtual platform in a very short timeframe. I congratulate them on their success although as I am sure you agree I would much preferred to have met them personally in Boston. We report today from that meeting where Matthew McCarthy and Francis Mah discussed infectious disease control in our clinics. Creativity and innovation are being sparked everywhere in our efforts to function during the time of this pandemic. We see today our colleagues in Israel are working on a COVID breathalyser test which could tell instantly if a patient presenting at our clinic has COVID-19. This could be a real game changer because in our report from a Columbia University Survey of residents, ophthalmologists ranked surprisingly high in their vulnerability to the virus. Please visit www.escrs.org for further details of our virtual congress. Stay safe and well    

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