TY - JOUR T1 - Primary care and the COVID-19 pandemic: Schrödinger's cat JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00730-2020 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 00730-2020 AU - Emmanouil K Symvoulakis AU - Dimitrios Anyfantakis Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/7/1/00730-2020.abstract N2 - We read with interest the article by Tomos et al. [1] reporting on the low death rates during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis in Greece. The authors underlined the importance of primary care in the management of suspected and mild cases and the reduction of inappropriate hospital referrals [1]. With good intentions, the authors offered their own view by stating that the key issue for the reported “Greek success story” is that the primary healthcare system is based on specialist doctors and not general practitioners [1]. They also suggested an algorithm that will help physicians to stratify the risk of infection, highlighting the importance of telemedicine [1]. We also support the usefulness of this conceptual framework. For large population groups that mainly benefit from rural primary care, limited access to private services can be an additional benefit.The #COVID19 pandemic crisis requires the collaboration of all healthcare providers. Every contribution is welcome to gain time during the phase of “system state” superposition. https://bit.ly/3m4SBxY ER -