The ERC Board has taken the decision on Friday to postpone publication of the ERC Guidelines until 2021. This decision has been taken partly because most of the team members are now consumed with work related to the COVID-19 crisis but the organisation also thinks there will be little interest in the guidelines so soon after the COVID-19 crisis (assuming it concludes this year).
ERC is having discussions about this year's ERC Congress and will make an announcement about this soon.
Although ERC will cancel the face-to-face meeting of the General Assembly on 25th June and the Board Meeting on 26th June, it is anticipated that ERC will try to hold a GA Meeting by Zoom on one of those days, ERC will confirm this very soon.
These are challenging times for all of us and ERC is conscious that many of you have asked the ERC for guidance on resuscitation training and practice during this COVID-19 pandemic. Several NRCs have already produced guidance and, in some cases, published this online.
You will have received last week a link to a survey which has enabled ERC to establish the approach currently being taken by the NRCs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A rapid review has just been completed by ILCOR so that the limited science around the risk of transmission of viral infection during CPR can be evaluated. ERC anticipates that ILCOR will publish recommendations imminently. The ERC will take the ILCOR recommendations and combine these with the results of the NRC survey to produce guidance on CPR for both in- and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
ERC hopes to be in a position to publish this on the ERC website by early next week.