The GECP is promoting an alert campaign on social networks, aiming to combat the delay in using health services in the face of suspected lung cancer symptoms, in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative arises from the perception that there has been a reduction in new lung cancer diagnoses since the beginning of the pandemic, which, moreover, was transversal to the various areas of Oncology at national level. The situation worries health professionals, who fear that this could negatively affect survival in the medium and long term. The consequences can be particularly dramatic in the case of lung cancer, because in a short time the disease can change from localized and potentially curable to generalized.

The reasons for this scenario are diverse. On the one hand, the response to the pandemic required a profound restructuring of health institutions, which included the mobilization of professionals and the temporary suspension of all non-urgent activity, with a consequent delay in consultations and fundamental tests for diagnosis. On the other hand, the population’s fear of contracting the virus has led to delays in resorting to the doctor in the face of suspicious symptoms.

At the present time, institutions are concentrating efforts to resume normalcy in clinical activity, while ensuring compliance with all recommendations for protection against contagion by COVID. It is now important to sensitize the population not to postpone the demand for health care despite the pandemic, transmitting the confidence that every effort is being made to guarantee their safety.