“…Nevertheless, the net result was a significant reduction in thoracic surgical volume in the early weeks of the pandemic in different institutions, even in specialized high volume centers ( 7 , 10 ). However, as the initial wave of the pandemic endured and surgical delays grew, the risk of upstaging and increased cancer mortality became an increasing concern, even for early-stage lesions ( 2 , 9 ). It was even suggested that lung cancer mortality may begin to outweigh the risks of COVID-19 mortality when surgical delays exceed 8 weeks ( 4 , 14 ), but the threshold of COVID-19 risk where this holds true remains difficult to define.…”