Pre-Hospital Trauma Care in the COVID-19 Era

The first appearance of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)1 in Italy was reported on January 30, 2020, with the discovery of 2 positive Chinese tourists in Rome. Less than 1 month later, on February 21st, a new outbreak was reported in Lombardy,2 Northern Italy. In the following weeks, there was an exponential surge in the number of patients with respiratory failure who entered the emergency department (ED) and required intensive care unit admission, putting the Italian health system to the test.