The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented real and anticipated strain to our health care systems. While on its face value this may not be perceived as a surgical problem or disease, surgical units are impacted owing to prioritization elsewhere of staff, beds, and resources as well as increased potential risk to both non-COVID-19 patients and staff. Furthermore, surgical lessons from combat and trauma can be broadly applied via focused empiricism, an agile surgical approach based on prioritization, resource allocation, and continuous performance improvement.1 That is, the COVID-19 pandemic represents a mass casualty event on both local and global scales.