VITILIGO Friends "VITFriends" 

As the Stay-at-home orders are extended for the COVID-19 pandemic, the GVF leadership and Alicia Roufs, WVD-USA 2020 Chair, have been closely tracking its impact. We have been monitoring daily recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), along with the numerous travel restrictions issued by companies and medical institutions.

The GVF Board made the difficult, but necessary decision to cancel the 2020 World Vitiligo Day-USA conference in Minneapolis, MN. While we had hoped that the peak of this virus would have passed by the conference date in June, we simply do not know. In addition, we have taken into account that the attendees range in age from very young to very mature, two of the largest groups potentially impacted by the virus. We do not feel it is in the best interest of the vitiligo community, the physicians or staff to host the meeting at this time. This communication is to officially notify you that the WVD-USA has been canceled.

Preparing for WVD involves the time, talent, and creativity of a great many of our volunteers, speakers, management team/staff and event partners. We are incredibly grateful for this and deeply disappointed not to be able to hold the conference as planned. We will miss you this year!