Study raises concerns sick British Columbians aren’t calling 911 out of COVID-19 fears - Global News

A new study is raising concerns that British Columbians with serious illnesses could be avoiding hospital treatment because they’re worried about COVID-19.

Paul’s Hospital recently published in The Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine looked at the first three months of B.C.’s COVID-19 pandemic.

We think it was because people were scared of getting COVID or they didn’t want to burden the health care system.”.

Scheuermeyer said while those pressures are real, they don’t necessarily affect other hospital functions — non-COVID-related units remain both safe and operational, and volumes in emergency rooms are actually down by 10 to 15 per cent, he said.

“We’re starting to miss things like cancer, diabetes, heart problems, and these are going to have long-term implications for people’s physical health, their emotional health and their quality of life.”

“We’d like patients to go to the hospital if they’re sick,” he said