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OBJECTIVES The onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced our cardiac surgery programme and hospital to enact drastic measures that has forced us to change how we care for cardiac surgery patients, assist with COVID-19 care and enable support for the hospital in terms of physical resources, providers and resident training. METHODS In this review, we review the cardiovascular manifestations of COVID-19 and describe our system-wide adaptations to the pandemic, including the use of telemedicine, how a severe reduction in operative volume affected our programme, the process of redeployment of staff, repurposing of residents into specific task teams, the creation of operation room intensive care units, and the challenges that we faced in this process. RESULTS We offer a revised set of definitions of surgical priority during this pandemic and how this was applied to our system, followed by specific considerations in coronary/valve, aortic, heart failure and transplant surgery. Finally, we outline a path forward for cardiac surgery for the near future. CONCLUSIONS We recognize that individual programmes around the world will eventually face COVID-19 with varying levels of infection burden and different resources, and we hope this document can assist programmes to plan for the future.