The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerts that some people may be putting off emergency care for serious health conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, and fewer number of visits for critical conditions could result in complications or even death.
During the pandemic, according to a new CDC report. across the United States, the total number of visits to hospital emergency departments for conditions other than COVID-19 was 42% lower than during this same time last year.
A research was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Wednesday, showing that emergency department visits decreased from about 2.1 million visits per week between March 31 and April 27 last year to 1.2 million between March 29 and April 25 this year.
The drastic decreases were among children 14 and younger, women and girls, and people living in the northeast region of the country. For instance, in 2019, 12% of all emergency department visits were in children 10 and younger, compared with 6% during the same time period this year.
