LAUSR

COVID-19 PANDEMIC Since it was first reported in December 2019, the novel COVID-19 pandemic has infected 3,656,644 individualsworldwide and resulted in 256,736 deaths as ofMay 5, 2020. In the United States, which is the current disease hotspot, 67,456 patients have died as of May 5, 2020, and it is projected that nearly 134,242 (range, 95,091–241,917) will die by August 1, 2020. As the pandemic evolves globally, state and local governments, professional medical societies, and healthcare systems have developed strategies to prepare and respond to the surge of the pandemic. Despite these measures, healthcare personnel (HCP) carry a 3-fold greater risk of COVID-19 infection compared with the general population and represent 3% to 20% of all infections in hotspots. To reduce transmissibility across patients and HCP, as well as to preserve critical healthcare resources, the Surgeon General, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and many professional medical societies, including those in gastroenterology, have recommended postponing all elective surgeries and procedures (at the time of writing this manuscript). In the absence of a proven vaccine, effective therapy, or widely available testing for early identification and isolation of new cases, social distancing has prevailed as the main public health intervention and may become a prolonged “new normal.” Therefore, HCP needs to adapt to these rapidly evolving policies in all medical subspecialties and be prepared for a surge of COVID-19 cases in their healthcare facilities. In this article, we will focus on the impact of COVID-19 in the endoscopic management of pancreatobiliary disorders.