Circumnavigating the challenges of COVID-19 in oncology

The ongoing SARS CoV‑2 pandemic poses a challenge for every aspect of daily life, but clearly health care systems were hit hardest in several countries. From what it appears now, the initial management of the crisis Austrian authorities was successful. The economic lock-down in conjunction with social distancing led to a fast increase of doubling time. On April 18, 2020, a total of 14,637 patients had tested positive for the virus; as the true infection rate may be 7–8 times higher, these numbers indicate that in Austria, approximately 8.7 million out of a total population of 8.8 million are SARS CoV‑2 naïve. The great success in initial containment is therefore also the Achilles heel, and new waves of infections can easily spread throughout the country. Obviously, this threat will continue until the approval of an active vaccine, which is expected in 2021 at the earliest. These facts pose a special problem in haematology and oncology, where patients face a potentially life-threatening disease on the one hand and commonly immunosuppressive treatments on the other hand. The psychological burden this situation poses on our patients cannot be overestimated. For physicians, maintaining optimal patient care remains paramount but has proven increasingly challenging in the current setting and clearly, there is no standard recipe to follow. In addition, the ensuing economic recession will reduce the amount of public funding available for patient care and research. …