Local physicians are sounding the alarm about the devastating consequences of people delaying care for heart attack, stroke, pneumonia, sepsis and diabetic crises amid the pandemic.
âPatients have been calling asking âIs it OK if I come in, are you still taking patients?â said Dr. Ryan Parker, chief of emergency medicine for Saint Francis Health System. âWe are hearing from people who are scared to come to the hospital because they donât want to be exposed to COVID or who know we are at capacity, we are full, and they donât want to be a burden on the system if they donât think theyâre as ill as COVID patients.â