US CDC: Emergency room visits for non-COVID cases dropped 42% during pandemic

Warning that some ill patients might have ignored getting emergency care for serious health conditions, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention revealed 42 percent fewer people visited emergency departments (EDs) across the United States than in April last year, according to data published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The CDC research indicated that emergency department visits dipped from the previous 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, 2020. 

Further, as per the data accumulated by the CDC researchers, the sharp decline in hospital consultations was noted amongst the children 14 and younger, young women, and people that resided in the Northeast US. In 2019, at least 12 percent of all emergency department visits were in children aged 10 and younger, compared with 6 percent about the same time in 2020 amid the ongoing pandemic, as per the report.  

Citing the implication of hospital visit drops, the CDC said in the mortality report, to minimize SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk and address public concerns about visiting the ED during the pandemic, CDC recommends continued use of virtual hospital visits and triage.

Further, elaborating on the sample of the data it said, to assess the ED trend, data was analyzed 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.” 

At least 47 states (all but Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming), captured approximately 73% of ED visits in the United States at the national level at the time of the global health crisis. During the most recent week, 3,552 EDs reported data, of which, total ED visit volume, as well as patient age, sex, region, and reason for the visit, were analyzed, CDC emphasized. 

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Respiratory distress patients surged

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, as per the CDC report. Additionally, the number of visits for conditions including nonspecific chest pain and acute myocardial infarction declined. And hence, these metrics led the CDC to be concerned about the fact that “patients could be delaying care for conditions that might result in additional mortality if left untreated." 

However, the research projected some limitations, as per the CDC health experts including that the number of hospitals reporting to the National Syndromic Surveillance Program change did not remain consistent. Plus, the data did not capture all US hospitals, as per the report.  

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