Safety Recommendations for Evaluation and Surgery of the Head and Neck During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Importance: The rapidly expanding novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has challenged the medical community to an unprecedented degree. Physicians and health care workers are at added risk of exposure and infection during the course of patient care. Because of the rapid spread of this disease through respiratory droplets, health care workers who come in close contact with the upper aerodigestive tract during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, such as otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, are particularly at risk. A set of safety recommendations was created based on a review of the literature and communications with physicians…

• MS
  Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• RC
  Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• FU
  Fudan University
• UD
  Università degli Studi di Genova