PATA Days in Chile cancelled

Bad news – the PATA Days in Chile are cancelled. The ongoing Corona crisis does not allow for proper planning and many restrictions are still in place. Visitors to Chile might need to quarantine, air travel might be restricted, and it is not clear when larger gatherings will become possible again. Postponing the PATA Days is not an option, because the preparations for PATA2022 in France are already making progress (update soon!). A huge thanks to the organisers for trying so hard and for all the work they have put into the organisation so far! Great job, team Chile! We hope that one day we can all enjoy your hospitality and the wonderful geology. This is perhaps a good time to watch again the virtual PATA2020 short meeting. Here is the official announcement of the organisers:

Dear colleagues,

We hope you are doing well. Since the last communication, we have been working on the organization of PATADAYS 2021. As you know, the organizational scenario of PATADAYS has been severely complicated by the COVID 19 pandemic. Chile in particular has been severely affected by at least four contagious waves, particularly the third wave generated strict government measures against the spread of COVID 19. One of these measures is the closure of commercial airspace and the impediment of open meetings. The Chilean government promoted a massive vaccination program, which has now reached 80% of the total population of Chile with full doses.

Fortunately, these measurements helped to reduce the COVID19 new cases. Now, we are in a drastic fall of the contagious curve. By this decrease, the Chilean government is progressively relaxing the measurements against COVID19. One of these measurements favors the meeting of people in public space. Presently more people can stay in an enclosed room. The present capacity is a maximum of 100 people with two vaccinated doses. Since April the Chilean commercial air space has been closed. Now the Government has reopened the commercial air space for residents, however, strict rules have to be accomplished for people flying to Chile, e.g. 10 days of Quarantine in Chile and to show at arrival the PCR test issued before the flight. Foreigners are not yet allowed to fly to Chile without restrictions. We do not know exactly when the airspace will be fully reopened. The closure of commercial airspace, the requirement of a vaccination certificate for people who participate in conferences, and the risk of increase of the contagious disease caused by the Delta variant are the most difficult limitations to sustain PATADAYS in Chile. Therefore, we decided to cancel PATADAYS 2021. We will then issue a refund with a 2 or 3% service charge issued by transbank (banking service and administrative cost). The final service charge is still in negotiation.

We would like to communicate as compensation that we keep the idea to publish a special volume of PATADAY Chile and to organize a field trip in Chile when the limitations of COVID 19 are overcome.

We apologize for the inconvenience in advance, but it is out of our control.

The organizers

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