ORLANDO, Fla. — The IIAR Natural Refrigeration Conference & Heavy Equipment Expo 2020, which was to take place March 15 to 18 in Orlando, Florida, has been cancelled. Dave Rule, president of IIAR, said the organization had been monitoring the events surrounding the coronavirus crisis closely but that the decision to cancel came once the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus was a pandemic.

“Given this significant announcement from the World Health Organization, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the conference this year,” he said. “The health and safety of the conference attendees remains our primary concern. The IIAR Executive Committee will meet to review this unprecedented situation and begin developing plans to address appropriate measures moving forward.”