Timing of surgery after recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection

摘要

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for infection prevention experts, healthcare providers, and hospital administrative personnel. National, state, and local hospital leaders have had to rapidly adapt and update policies based on personal protective equipment and testing constraints. More recently, emerging data on presymptomatic transmission and prolonged viral shedding have created additional challenges. As the pandemic continues and states begin to allow easing of nonemergent surgery restrictions, stakeholders are now faced with the task of developing policies for surgeries on recovered COVID-19–positive patients. Based on current data for COVID-19 and prior research on viral respiratory illnesses, we propose a rational surgical policy for such patients.