Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2022; 118(3): 663-666
Impact of the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cardiovascular Surgery in Brazil: Analysis of a Tertiary Reference Center
Luiz Augusto Lisboa
, Omar Asdrúbal Vilca Mejia
, Elisandra Trevisan Arita, Gustavo Pampolha Guerreiro
, Lucas Molinari Veloso da Silveira
, Carlos Manuel de Almeida Brandão, Ricardo Ribeiro Dias, Luís Roberto Palma Dallan, Leonardo Miana
, Luiz F. Caneo, Marcelo Biscegli Jatene, Luís Alberto Oliveira Dallan, Fabio Biscegli Jatene
Introduction
The novel viral respiratory infection caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), initially known as 2019-nCoV, emerged in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China and quickly spread throughout Asia, Europe, and USA, characterizing the situation as a pandemic. In May 2020, the World Health Organization declared Brazil a new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
With the alarming levels of spread and severity of COVID-19, major disruptions in routine hospital services have occurred, as hospitals adjust in order to increase the capacity to care for patients with SARS-CoV-2. In this context, elective surgeries were postponed in order to optimize health resources and staffing issues and to protect patients from in-hospital viral transmission.
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