EULAR provisional recommendations for the management of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases in the context of SARS-CoV-2.

Landewé, Robert Bm; Machado, Pedro M; Kroon, Féline; Bijlsma, Hans Wj; Burmester, Gerd R; Carmona, Loreto; Combe, Bernard; Galli, Massimo; Gossec, Laure; Iagnocco, Annamaria; Isaacs, John D; Mariette, Xavier; McInnes, Iain; Mueller-Ladner, Ulf; Openshaw, Peter; Smolen, Josef S; Stamm, Tanja A; Wiek, Dieter; Schulze-Koops, Hendrik

The provisional EULAR recommendations address several aspects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus, and the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 and are meant for patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) and their caregivers. A task force of 20 members was convened by EULAR that met several times by videoconferencing in April 2020. The task force finally agreed on five overarching principles and 13 recommendations covering four generic themes: (1) General measures and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. (2) The management of RMD when local measures of social distancing are in effect. (3) The management of COVID-19 in the context of RMD. (4) The prevention of infections other than SARS-CoV-2. EULAR considers this set of recommendations as a 'living document' and a starting point, which will be updated as soon as promising new developments with potential impact on the care of patients with RMD become available.