In 2020, the unprecedented pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused heavy social and healthcare burdens and exacerbated the relative shortage of medical resources all around the world. Fortunately, with great efforts by the Chinese government in implementing timely and effective measures, the situation of COVID-19 has gradually come under control (1). Nevertheless, this raging pandemic still had major consequences on routine thoracic surgery services. A large amount of elective thoracic surgeries were postponed or cancelled. However, as one of the largest tertiary referral centers for chest diseases in China, the Shanghai Chest Hospital has overcome the significant impact of COVID-19 and has never stopped its service of thoracic surgeries during the pandemic (2). In 2020, there were 15,664 patients who received thoracic surgeries at the Shanghai Chest Hospital, which only decreased by 8.0% compared with the year before, including 13,493 pulmonary resections, 1,075 esophageal procedures, 969 mediastinal procedures, 66 tracheal procedures, 2 lung transplantations, and 59 other procedures.