Sustainable Resumption of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Procedures, and the Importance of Testing, During Endemic COVID-19

PURPOSE: As second and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic challenge healthcare in North America and Europe once again, we analyze the impact of the first wave on routine elective cardiovascular care, and the differential COVID risk emerging within our patient groups and staff. PERSPECTIVE: We describe the need to sustainably resume, and temporarily expand, routine elective cardiac services in the face of resurgent COVID-19. Some, but not all, cardiac patient groups are particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes following COVID-19 infection. We explore mitigation measures at the institutional level to increase resilience within cardiac services to enable them to operate deep into subsequent waves of COVID infection which place unprecedented demands on intensive care infrastructure. As measures to eradicate the virus appear to have failed in many countries, and vaccine roll-out will take many months we take the view that the threat imposed by endemic COVID-19 alters the way elective procedural care should be offered to cardiovascular patients. CONCLUSION: Our patients are at definite risk from their cardiovascular disease, and a return to suspension of proven prognostic interventional treatments on an elective basis – the default for the first wave – must be avoided at all costs.