Opening and closing the doors of the lockdown in Italy without forgetting lung cancer patients.

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread to more than 200 countries all around the world, which are facing challenges in controlling its spread. The Italian Government initiated an unprecedented public health intervention to contain the epidemic by shutting down all people movements. Two weeks after the start of the lockdown period, the daily rate of patient admissions to hospitals significantly decreased. After 2 months, the quarantine progressively came to an end. A practical issue at this time is when and how the lockdown interventions should be relaxed since, without an effective vaccine, the general public still remains vulnerable. However, patient should not be placed at an increased risk of dying of lung cancer just to avoid COVID-19. Attention must be paid to all types of cancers and people should not hesitate to go to the hospital to be treated in time. All necessary actions should be taken by hospitals to minimize the risks of potential contagion, by designating differentiated routes and areas for patients potentially affected by COVID-19, while maintaining the highest standard of oncological care. If this 'cancer amnesia' situation persists, the mortality from lung neoplasms would far exceed that directly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.