COVID-19 in Cancer and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus infection that rapidly spread throughout the world, creating unprecedented issues on all fronts that led to interruptions in the care of cancer patients. It presents in a bimodal fashion with an initial upper respiratory infection, which can escalate with hyperinflammation in a subpopulation of patients. Risk factors for severe COVID-19 are age and a cancer diagnosis. Within the population of cancer patients are some of the most immunosuppressed: autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) patients and chimeric antigen receptor therapy (CAR T) patients. When available, preventative strategies, as well as ever-evolving treatment options, were utilized to care for these patient populations.