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MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HEALTH

Emergency room visits drop by 42% in US amid pandemic, CDC warns it may lead to complications and death

They recommend that people seek medical care virtually or dial helplines whenever needed to minimize the chances of catching or spreading the disease
PUBLISHED JUN 4, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

The Covid-19 pandemic has cut down the number of emergency medical care or ER visits in the US. The proportion went down by 42% between March and April, compared to the same period last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The "steepest decrease" occurred in children aged 14 years and below, females, and the people residing in the Northeast. However, the number of infectious disease-related consultations was four times higher than the same time last year, the CDC data suggests.

Taking these findings into account, the CDC warned that a decline in seeing a doctor may lead to complications and even death. "Health messages that reinforce the importance of immediately seeking care for symptoms of serious conditions, such as myocardial infarction, are needed," the federal health agency says. They recommend that people seek medical care virtually or dial helplines whenever needed to minimize the chances of catching or spreading the disease.

The CDC decided to look at ER visit numbers after Austria, Hong Kong, Italy and California reported a sharp drop, prompting the CDC to investigate whether US hospitals showed a similar change. So they looked at data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP), a collaborative network developed and maintained by CDC, state and local health departments, and academic and private-sector health partners to collect electronic health data in real-time.

The team analyzed data on the total number of ER visits, as well as patient age, sex, region and reason for seeking care at two-time points: March 29–April 25, 2020, and March 31–April 27, 2019.

The CDC recommends that ER health providers screen every person for fever and symptoms of Covid-19. (Getty Images)

The analysis showed that the number of visits dropped from an average of 2.1 million per week during the said 2019 period to 1.2 million per week in 2020, recording a 42% dip in ER visits. The lowest number of visits reported to NSSP occurred during April 12–18, 2020, the CDC added.

On digging further, the team saw a decline in visits for health conditions such as abdominal pain and other digestive or abdomen signs and symptoms, musculoskeletal pain excluding low back pain, hypertension, nausea and vomiting, other specified upper respiratory infections, sprains and strains, and superficial injuries. Also featuring in the list are nonspecific chest pain and acute myocardial infarction.

However, people sought emergency care for infectious-disease related conditions such as Covid-19, pneumonia not caused by tuberculosis, other lower respiratory diseases, respiratory failure, insufficiency or cardiac arrest. The CDC also observed high drops in emergency visits in regions badly hit by Covid-19. This "suggests that the pandemic has altered the use of the ED by the public. Persons who use the ED as a safety net because they lack access to primary care and telemedicine might be disproportionately affected if they avoid seeking care because of concerns about the infection risk in the ED," the researchers say.

The CDC recommends that ER health providers screen every person for fever and symptoms of Covid-19 and maintain separate, well-ventilated areas for patients with and without signs of the disease. The study has a few limitations, including the lack of complete information on hospital visits, as it captures only 73% of the total ER visits. The researchers also do not know whether the drop in ER visits was because patients received treatment elsewhere.

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