Abstract
In December 2019, patients clustered in Wuhan, China, were identified to
have a novel virus now known as COVID-19, a virus from the coronavirus family. This
virus has spread all across the world, with close to 8 million confirmed cases and over
432,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths worldwide. This pandemic has rattled the
modern era and presented with several new considerations that the anesthesiologist
must be aware of. This chapter will cover several anesthetic concerns that involve this
virus and all the precautions that one should take during this pandemic.
It should be noted that there is new research emerging rapidly about this novel virus,
and one can always depend on World Health Organization, the American Society of
Anesthesiologists, Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention for updated COVID-19 resources for anesthesiologists. This
chapter was written in September 2020 and is the first textbook chapter that we know
that is available at this time.
Keywords: Axillary nerve block, COVID-19, Driving pressure, ELISA, HMEF, IgG and IgA immune response, Intubation, Lung protection strategies, Low tidal volume, Laryngoscopy, Leukopenia, Nasopharyngeal swab, Plateau pressure, RTPCR, RBD-S protein, VFE.