Americans are delaying outpatient and preventive care "independent of stay-at-home orders or state closures," a New Orleans-based Tulane University professor told local CBS affiliate 4WWL.
What you should know:
1. Engy Ziedan, PhD, an assistant professor of economics, examined EHR data representing 35 million Americans and found a 40 percent decrease in outpatient visits.
2. Orthopedic patient volumes also dropped by more than 60 percent in mid-March.
3. Dr. Ziedan attributed the declines to fears about contracting COVID-19, and said volumes haven't returned to pre-COVID-19 figures yet.