Statement From AORN

Orange County, Florida is averaging 1,000 new coronavirus cases per day. Due to this dramatic surge, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our in-person Global Surgical Conference & Expo Aug. 7-10 at the Orange County Convention Center and focus exclusively on our virtual conference.

The mayor of Orange County, Florida – where Orlando is located – yesterday declared the county is facing a COVID-19 “crisis” from the Delta variant. The positivity rate for the virus has tripled to almost 14% from 4.3% one month ago. Florida has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. with 20% of the nation’s cases.

We know how much everyone was looking forward to being together. At AORN, we were very excited about the conference and are disappointed that we had to make this decision. However, the health and well-being of all attendees, presenters, exhibitors, and our staff is our top priority. Additionally, we do not want to potentially burden Orlando’s healthcare system with an influx of almost 5,000 visitors during this public health epidemic.

You can expect further communications from us in the next several days regarding housing, refunds, and other logistics. We are also working to expand our Virtual Expo to include many of the sessions that were exclusively planned for the in-person conference. We will send details as soon as possible.

We are very aware of the impact that canceling the in-person event will have on your plans and we will keep you informed as we have more information to share. We truly regret the inconvenience this may cause.

Thank you for your understanding.

Holly S. Ervine, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, CNOR
AORN President

Linda Groah, MSN, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, FAAN
AORN CEO/Executive Director