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ASCRS M O N DAY, M AY 18 , 2 0 2 0 | AS C R S V I R T U A L A N N U A L M E E T I N G HIGHLIGHTS CORNEA ESSENTIALS SYMPOSIUM P. 12 IMPLEMENTING TELE-OPHTHALMOLOGY P. 28 DMEK STUDIES P. 42 DAILY NEWS extended plateau with about 30,000 new cases and around 2,000 deaths per day. Unlike other countries, there was no sustained decline. China, he said, had a more symmetric epidemic curve. Italy and Spain also had an extended plateau, but they showed sustained de- cline earlier than the U.S. With the plateau and slow burn experienced in the U.S., Dr. Gottlieb said some mod- eling was off, because it had assumed a more symmetric epidemic curve. In the past 10 days, however, Dr. Gottlieb said the country has started to see a decline nationally. We continue to see that decline even when by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director T he second day of the ASCRS Virtual Annual Meeting began with a Novartis-sponsored ASCRS Sunday Session, featur- ing former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Dr. Gottlieb, the 23rd commissioner of the FDA who served from May 2017–April 2019, gave an overview of where we're at in the COVID-19 pandemic and answered questions from an ophthalmologist panel. Two weeks ago, Dr. Got- tlieb said, the U.S. was in an by Ellen Stodola Editorial Co-Director P art 2 of the "Turning the Lights Back On" special session featured a num- ber of presenters and was moderated by Eric Don- nenfeld, MD, Garden City, New York, and Bruce Maller, Incline Village, Nevada. The session was supported by Alcon. David Parke II, MD, CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), San Francisco, California, presented "Principles and Best Practices: Leading Ophthalmology into the Post-Pandemic Era." He first shared some les- sons learned from COVID-19: • Resumption of full-spectrum ophthalmologic care should be gradual, phased, and re- gionally determined. • It should be determined by science and by the ophthal- mologists' judgment. • We are not returning to "nor- mal" (as we used to define it). • Expectations are different. • Operational decisions and processes will be more com- plex. Success in the "next phase," Dr. Parke said, will require leadership, advoca- cy, and action as a common profession and leveraging the continued on page 3 continued on page 4 Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, gives COVID-19 pandemic overview in special session Part 2 of 'Turning the Lights Back On' highlights ways to adapt your practice moving forward we back out the data from the New York tristate area. "We're now starting to see more optimistic signs national- ly where trends are definitely slowly coming down," he said, noting that there are, of course, outliers, states where we're seeing cases go up. He also noted that it will take a couple of weeks to start picking up on data that could show the impact of some state econo- mies opening. Dr. Gottlieb said with testing ramping up across the country, the focus is on hospi- talizations as an indication of where the epidemic is heading. While cases might go up, he said it's important to look at the positivity rate as you look at new cases. We want to see the positivity rate falling. By the fall, Dr. Gottlieb en- visions that there will be ample capacity for testing in the U.S. He said that the impediment could occur at the testing site. If there are strict conditions for cleaning and quarantine at testing sites that find a positive case, he said doctors won't test in their offices. The CDC is going to give guidance to pro- viders on how to put in place standard procedures in their offices so that if a positive case

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