Drop in ER Visits (5-7-20)

Drop in ER Visits (5-7-20)

Covid-19 patients fill emergency rooms across the country...hospitals are reporting a drop in er admissions by non-covid patients.doctors say non- coronavirus patients are avoiding hospitals from fears of contracting the virus... kq2's kilee thomas brings us the story.

As the covid crisis continues the country are seeing a drop in patients because emergencies aren't happening."emergency room visits in general have been weighed down and we think that's because people have been avoiding the er because they're worried about covid-19 which we don't think it's a good thing."doctors believe fears of coronavirus are likely keeping patients from calling 911"we're concerned about the people who are at home, who are not coming to the hospital because they're afraid they're going to get covid-19."across the nation, er volumes are down 40%-50% as reported by the american college of emergency physicians.doctors emphasize the dangers of putting off signs of a serious health emergency like a heart attack or stroke"one thing we try to stress as we're opening up is that there are risks to deferring care as well, whether it's going to the er or going to your pediatrician."

Medical professionals say the longer you wait, the higher the risk"i did have to take care of some really sick patients this weekend and i'm almost sure almost half of them, had they come sooner and not had this fear, we wouldn't have had to go through the extraordinary lengths we did to try to preserve life."

Doctors at the university of kansas health system say regular hospital visits have also decreased during the pandemic"we usually see about 5,000-5,500 patient visits or within our health system for amateur visits a day.

We went down to 1,200-1,500 at one point, or a thousand.

That's a hug drop."as hospitals are said to be separating covid-19 patients from non-covid patients,doctors say there's no reason to be afraid."you're safe when you come here.

We really believe that.

I think you're safer today than you were a month ago or two months ago because we've worked so hard at those infection control."reporting in st.

Joseph, kilee thomas, kq2 news dr. williams expects emergency room visits to go up as people get back into their people get back emergency room expects news dr. williams expects emergency room visits to go up as people get back into their