Stranger Months: How SARS-CoV-2, Fear of Contagion, and Lockdown Measures Impacted Attendance and Clinical Activity During February and March 2020 at an Urban Emergency Department in Milan.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

An unprecedented wave of patients with acute respiratory failure due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19) hit emergency departments (EDs) in Lombardy, starting in the second half of February 2020. This study describes the direct and indirect impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak on an urban major-hospital ED.

Methods

Data regarding all patients diagnosed with COVID-19 presenting from February 1 to March 31, 2020, were prospectively collected, while data regarding non-COVID patients presenting within the same period in 2019 were retrospectively retrieved.

Results

ED attendance dropped by 37% in 2020. Two-thirds of this reduction occurred early after the identification of the first autochthonous COVID-19 case in

SUBMITTER: Franchini S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7588723 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature