People suffering heart attacks, strokes or other life-threatening emergencies are staying away from hospitals because they fear contracting Covid-19, medical groups said Wednesday.
But the American Heart Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians and several other medical groups are urging people to still call 911 and go to the hospital when it’s a real emergency.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the eight medical groups said people could die if they don’t.
“What we’ve seen over the course of the last six to eight weeks is that there are decreasing numbers of heart attacks and strokes showing up at US hospitals. That has also been reported in other places around the globe that have experienced Covid-19 epidemic,” said Dr. Richard Harrington, an interventional cardiologist and president of the American Heart Association. He was among the authors of the joint statement.
“We want to make sure now that as we’re seeing those decreased numbers of heart attack and stroke patients that we call public awareness to this, that we call public attention to this, that this really is important from an overall public health perspective,” Harrington said.
“We want to make sure now that as we’re seeing those decreased numbers of heart attack and stroke patients that we call public awareness to this, that we call public attention to this, that this really is important from an overall public health perspective,” Harrington said.
CNN