I enjoyed reading the recent clinical recommendations on airway management for thoracic surgical patients during the COVID-19 pandemic [1] . However, as a clinically practising thoracic anaesthetist of 28 years, I would like to make the following comments. It was previously common practice to extubate the patient's trachea while they were still anaesthetised; that is, deep. This minimised coughing due to the tracheal tube, which is common when extubating patients awake. This is useful when it is necessary to avoid 