The pandemic is no excuse to abandon chronic disease management and prevention. By one estimate 70,000 Americans will die in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a shocking number, of course, but it is far fewer than the 650,000 expected deaths from heart diseases this year.

Naturally government leaders, health care workers and the general community should do everything in their power to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

But we should do this without exacerbating the public health challenges that already existed before the coronavirus arrived.

One specific policy that needs further evaluation is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommendation to delay all non-urgent and elective procedures.

But many of these, while not emergencies, are scheduled in advance to prevent or manage chronic diseases. They are not optional.

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