Health screenings during Covid-19 Pandemic
One of the biggest concern study have found is that there is a decline in the health screenings that past two years. People were afraid to go out and therefore missed their regular ER visits to prevent getting sick from Coronavirus. According to an emergency doctor, Dr. Michael Daignault,
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a drastic decline in the number of patients with non-COVID medical emergencies. A CDC study found that overall ER visits declined 42% from March to April 2020 compared to the same time in 2019. Even more concerning, a survey of nine major hospitals in April 2020 showed that the number of severe heart attacks treated in hospitals dropped nearly 40% over the course of one month. Patients were avoiding or delaying care in the ER out of fear of “catching COVID.”
Unfortunately, far too many of my emergency room patients of late are being diagnosed with cancer or progression of their tumors. These patients are suffering collateral damage from the pandemic; they are upwards of two years behind in their critical disease screening appointments or have been unable to follow up as their primary care doctor offices face a daunting scheduling backlog.
I want to get everyone up to speed on the more important recent recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) regarding screening for lung, colorectal and breast cancer.
Read more about this here.
If you are one of the people who have missed all your diagnostic test and screenings, be sure to make an effort as soon as you can to ensure you are updated on your own health status or maybe your loved ones. You might have avoided Covid-19 but there are far more deadly sickness we can all possibly get, either genetically or from our surroundings.