LAUSR

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak requires that endocrinologists from all over Europe move on, even more, to the first line of care of our patients, also in collaboration with other physicians such as those in internal medicine and emergency units. This will preserve the health status and prevent the adverse COVID-19-related outcomes in people affected by different endocrine diseases. People with diabetes in particular are among those in high-risk categories who can have serious illness if they get the virus, according to the data published so far from the Chinese researchers, but other endocrine diseases such as obesity, malnutrition, and adrenal insufficiency may also be impacted by COVID-19. Therefore, since the responsibilities of endocrinologists worldwide due to the current COVID-19 outbreak are not minor we have been appointed by the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) to write the current statement in order to support the ESE members and the whole endocrine community in this critical situation. In addition, endocrinologists, as any other healthcare worker under the current COVID-19 outbreak, will need to self-protect from this viral disease, which is demonstrating to have a very high disseminating and devastating capacity. We urge Health Authorities to provide adequate protection to the whole workforce of health professionals and to consistently test for COVID-19 the exposed personnel. A decrease in the number of healthcare professionals available for active medical practice in case they contract the disease as it is happening in certain countries, is itself, a threat for the healthcare system and the well-being of our patients. The virus seems to have spread from infected animals and human-to-human transmission is now more than evident, with a high suspicion that non-symptomatic individuals act as the major vectors. It spreads like any other respiratory infectious disease, through contaminated airdroplets that come out of the mouth of infected persons when talking, coughing, or sneezing. The virus can survive in the environment from a few hours to a few days, depending on surfaces and environmental conditions, and touching affected surfaces. The mouth, nose, and ocular mucosa appears to be the major way of transmission.