The American journal of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on visits of an urban emergency department.
The aim of this study was to reveal how the pandemic process affected the number of ED visits and the reasons for application. ⋯ Number of ED visits during the pandemic were decreased by half when compared to the previous year. It was an advantage of the pandemic to decrease ED visits due to "nonemergent" complaints, and thus, unnecessary patient burden. However, on the other hand, patients avoided seeking medical attention, even for life-threatening conditions which led to increased mortality and morbidity.