Theories on why A&Es are quieter than normal ATM

[Hotcuppatea]

My sister works in a hospital and said that their A&E is empty at the moment. This echos the experience of a friend of mine who had to go to her local hospital's A&E and said she was the only person in there.

Now my cynical sister says that if COVID19 is keeping so many people away, then it just goes to show that loads of people were there before who didn't need to be.

I think it's about much more than that.

1. Pubs are closed and many A&E visits must be alcohol/ accidents from alcohol/fights from alcohol related.
2. No team sports at the moment- another big group must be the people who've hurt themselves playing Rugby, football, etc.

Anyone else have any theories?

People are scared to go.

I imagine there will be more people putting up with suffering now, rather than risk going to A&E.

But I also agree, it's probably keeping a lot of the unnecessaries away.

Wouldn't you go if you needed to though? Even if you felt scared? I would.

And if I was put off by C19 then that kind of backs up my cynical sister who says that what ails them can't be that bad in the first place.

Fewer people are using cars so a lower number of car accidents.

Also kids aren't playing out as much or allowed in parks to fall off/injure themselves on play equipment.

I did see on the news that hospitals are worried about people with symptoms of minor strokes/heart attacks not coming in (for fear of catching the virus) as it's just storing up problems for the future if they're not treated now.

People aren't stuck in traffic when doing the morning commute, so are less stressed and are taking less risks with traffic. So there are fewer RTCs.

This also means fewer ridiculous accidents. I'm sure we've all rushed around trying to find sports kit whilst doing our hair etc, and that can lead to falling over. So if there's no sports kit to find in a rush, there's less chance of injury.

Lack of drink related accidents. Sport injuries. School playground injuries.

I think that people are too scared to go too. The only reason I would go is if my child seriously injured themselves like a broken arm or something. I would bet there’s lots of people out there with minor injuries that need attention and wounds that are getting infected.

I am managing my child much more carefully than usual as don't want an A+E trip whilst heavily pregnant in the middle of a pandemic.

Usually overused for minor ailments
Fear
Nobody is doing anything so fewer accidents

All the time wasters have stayed at home.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have issued a statement encouraging parents to seek medical advice if they are worried about their child’s condition as they are concerned parents aren’t seeking advice when they should.

People are putting up with injuries that really should be seen by a doctor, because they’re afraid of catching Covid.

Lots of reasons.

As you have said - fewer accidents, alcohol fueled injuries.

Fewer infectious diseases being passed on.

Fewer people using it instead of seeing their GP/to get a second opinion if they don't agree with their GP.

And unfortunately, some people not going in even though they are genuinely ill and need emergency care, because they are afraid.

Every time I've had to attend A&E, it's been packed with school children who've sustained sports injuries, old ladies who've had a fall in the local shopping centre and construction workers who've hammered nails through their finger. None of these things are taking place.

Personally at home, we're trying to limit 'risk' as much as possible. I heard my neighbour laughing today as I shouted to my eldest to get out of the apple tree as there was no way we were risking a trip to A&E.

Quite simply, the ability to injure yourself has been largely removed.

DH and I have ruled out doing certain jobs around the house during lockdown because we’ve weighed up the risks of a stupid injury requiring A&E and decided it can wait until after the pandemic.

I have looked at a couple of kids careening through the park out of control on rollerskates and silently judged their parents too.

People are scared.

For my sins, I’ve said to my DDs ‘no, stop, mummy can’t take you to the hospital these days if you hurt yourself’. Not proud of it, but doubt I’m the only one.

I am terrified to go. I have lots of health conditions including asthma and I’m really struggling with it at the moment and normally if I feel awful I’d take myself to a and e to be checked over and receive treatment but at the moment I am scared I’ll catch Covid 19 - even though I already think I may have had it- and that’s worse to me than struggling with severe asthma at home. I’m using my inhalers more than usual and taking extra steroids when normally I’d have gone to a and e by now (I’ve also sought GP advice during the day but it seems to flare in the evening)..

I know lots of people with multiple health conditions like me are just terrified of going.

Fewer accidents/people being more careful.

No weekend drunks & fights outside bars.

All the "my foot's been hurting for three weeks", "my child has a slight temperature" visits with the whole family.

Some genuine heart attacks and strokes not going because they're scared of covid.

More accidents happen at home then anywhere else, approx 6000 people die a yr from a home related accident & home accidents are one of the main reason kids go to A&E. Theoretically the numbers should be higher so either people are doing less &/or are too scared to go.

Pubs are shut.
Also, whenever ive been to a&e on a sunday it has been full of injured Sunday league footballers. There are no team sports.
Far fewer cars on the road.
People outside generally far less.

I keep telling my children to be careful as we can't go to A&E. This means no wrestling, no trampoline, no trying to turn the slide into a water park, no jumping in brambles with bare legs, not playing mountains on the stairs, not jumping on the beds.

The list goes on. My children are lemmings.

Also because people are having to stay away, all those little things that a pharmacist or GP can deal with, or things that will self resolve, people are finally realising they really don’t require a trip to A&E.
Hopefully after this is all over this will reset people’s barometer of what A&E is for, what a GP is for and what a pharmacy is for.

There was a statement from A&E Docs here in Ireland to encourage people to attend if they were ill. There have been a few fatalities of children whose parents were too frightened to attend and left it too late.

All relevant points...
But what is worrying, is that I've colleagues in my old nursing post, saying their heart attack service is quiet too.
I think it's worrying that people are scared to come in the hospital with coronavirus going around,
Many People won't die from Covid, they'll die from things that were put off to deal with covid.
Heart attacks, cancer screenings etc.