A Review of the Impact of COVID-19 on Emergency Departments: Decrease in ED Visits Throughout the Pandemic |Biomedgrid

As COVID-19 cases across the United States climbed in the first half of 2020, emergency departments experienced a proportional decline in visits during that time. With stay-at-home orders enacted to limit community transmission of disease, healthcare utilization changed [1]. Accounting for all ages and causes, ED visits declined by 42% during the early stages of the pandemic. This is shortly after the WHO declared a pandemic and the US proclaimed a state of national emergency [2,3]. Fear of contracting infectious disease as well as nationwide concern regarding PPE stopped patients from coming to the ED [4,5]. This brings into question whether or not patients are delaying seeking care for emergent matters, how different populations are affected, and what the future of patient care entails.