Impact of the #COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department Visits — United States, January 1, 2019–May 30, 2020 | MMWR
▻https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6923e1.htm
#Etats-Unis : Fréquentation des #urgences « substantiellement moindre » par rapport à la même période de l’année précédente ; le nombre d’arrêts cardiaques est par contre plus élevé.
During an early 4-week interval in the COVID-19 pandemic, ED visits were substantially lower than during the same 4-week period during the previous year; these decreases were especially pronounced for children and females and in the Northeast. In addition to diagnoses associated with lower respiratory disease, pneumonia, and difficulty breathing, the number and ratio of visits (early pandemic period versus comparison period) for cardiac arrest and ventricular fibrillation increased. The number of visits for conditions including nonspecific chest pain and acute myocardial infarction decreased, suggesting that some persons could be delaying care for conditions that might result in additional mortality if left untreated. Some declines were in categories including otitis media, superficial injuries, and sprains and strains that can often be managed through primary or urgent care. Future analyses will help clarify the proportion of the decline in ED visits that were not preventable or avoidable such as those for life-threatening conditions, those that were manageable through primary care, and those that represented actual reductions in injuries or illness attributable to changing activity patterns during the pandemic (such as lower risks for occupational and motor vehicle injuries or other infectious diseases).