Following its cancellation owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting made a welcome return in a virtual format in April 2021. Not surprisingly, the impact of the pandemic on the neurology community was a recurring theme. The Hot Topics Plenary Session was devoted entirely to COVID-19 and included contributions from prominent medical experts such as Anthony Fauci and Walter Koroshetz.The scientific programme featured numerous presentations on the neurological complications of COVID-19. For example, Sherry Chou introduced the work of the GCS-NeuroCOVID Consortium, a worldwide collaboration that is exploring the prevalence, mechanisms and outcomes of COVID-19-related neurological symptoms. Omar Abdel-Mannan described an immune-mediated disorder termed PIMS-TS, which is observed in children after SARS-CoV-2 infection and manifests with neurological symptoms in around 50% of cases.The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on neurological care — in particular, stroke care — were also examined at AAN 2021. Thanh Nguyen reported on a large international study that demonstrated a global decline in hospitalization and intravenous thrombolysis for stroke during the pandemic. In addition, Nicte Mejia discussed how the pandemic has exposed and amplified racial disparities in stroke care.Finally, speaking in the Hot Topics Plenary Session, Serena Spudich provided a glimpse of future directions in COVID-19 research, highlighting ongoing studies on neurological syndromes in the post-acute phase of the disease. This emerging issue will undoubtedly occupy neurologists for years to come as the long-term consequences of the pandemic become increasingly apparent.