COVID-19 in Endoscopy: Time to do more?

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Thompson, Christopher C.; Shen, Lin; Lee, Linda S.

Introduction

We have read with great interest the paired articles on SARS-CoV-2/Novel Coronavirus19 (COVID-19) in this issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. The first is entitled “Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: what the department of endoscopy should know” by Repici et al, 1 which describes the Italian experience, and the second is “Considerations in performing endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic” by Soetikno et al, 2 which is drawn largely from the Hong Kong experience. We would like to congratulate the authors for their development and rigorous account of the endoscopic practices they have successfully used to minimize infection of endoscopy staff while providing essential services in this high-risk environment. We would also like to share a U.S. hospital perspective gained from our experience contending with numerous COVID-19 cases following the Biogen conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Keywords

Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment