The Missouri Hospital Association, an advocacy group of 140 hospitals, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) are urging people not to go to an emergency room for COVID-19 testing or routine care.
In a joint media release on Monday, leaders of both organizations asked Missourians to use emergency departments (EDs) for emergencies only in the weeks ahead. Overcrowding of EDs causes delays in care for all types of illnesses, according to the statement. Leaders urged those with questions about the type of medical care they might need to contact their health care provider for further direction.
“Chest pain, stroke symptoms, physical trauma or severe illness absolutely require emergency care,” Jon D. Doolittle, president and chief executive officer of the Missouri Hospital Association, said in a statement. “Hospital EDs are designed to treat this type of care. Unfortunately, the patient surge – from demand for COVID-19 testing and care, as well as other normal seasonal increases in hospital utilization – is causing hospital ED waiting rooms to fill up. This creates a bottleneck because every patient must be screened and treated under federal law, regardless of the seriousness of their condition. In an emergency, a patient should always seek ED care.”
The DHSS website showed 3,070 hospitalizations due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases throughout the state on Monday. The seven-day average was 3,684. The state reported approximately 38,000 COVID-19 tests were administered on Monday with a positivity rate of 35%. The data showed an 11.6% decrease in confirmed cases during the last seven days. It also showed modest improvements in the percentages of remaining inpatient and intensive care unit hospital beds throughout the state.
The media release said the latest COVID-19 surge created an excessive demand for inpatient beds. It stated hospitals typically see high inpatient numbers during the winter months due to seasonal influenza, accidents and other routine health emergencies.
While EDs are typically the entry point for those requiring hospitalization, wait times increase for all patients due to the challenge of identifying non-emergency care patients and those needing emergency care.
Don Kauerauf, director of DHSS, urged people not to go to a hospital for a COVID-19 test.
“We encourage Missourians to use non-hospital options for this testing, including state and federal home testing kits that can be ordered online, and tests that are available at other sites to reduce hospital ED crowding,” Kauerauf said in a statement. “Missourians should consider ordering at-home test kits through the federal online site to have on hand in case they are needed.”
The organizations jointly released materials to help Missourians decide where to get a test and what types of conditions are appropriate for emergency care. The DHSS website provides additional information on the state’s testing resources.
