"Our numbers in the emergency department and our urgent care centers dropped fairly significantly which was somewhat surprising to us because those are patients who usually need care," Kamali said.
In fact, it dropped by around 50%. Dr. Kamali says emergency care was, and is, always available regardless of any COVID-19 regulations that were put in place.
"What we don't want is people putting off things," Kamali said. "That's what I'm afraid has happened over the past couple months that people with potentially serious conditions were afraid of COVID, or were afraid that they would be getting in the way of other patient care so they didn't come in."
Kamali tells News10NBC doctors learned a lot over the past few weeks that have helped them tremendously when dealing with patients.
"We're able to care for COVID patients side by side with our other patients as well as protecting our staff, and ourselves from catching COVID, or anything else," Kamali said.
Hospitals all across the region also felt a big financial hit as both the number of patients, and elective surgeries dropped. It's estimated that more than $130 million in revenue was lost.
"In some ways, it's kind of ironic if you think about it a little bit that all hospitals being asked to prepare for a pandemic, and then now facing you know financial declines because of that. So we're just working our way through it right now," Kamali said.
But the message is clear, don't put off anything that may affect your health.
"Doctors’ offices are working hard to open up and provide services," Kamali said. "We've been operating our ED's, our urgent care so we are fully, and readily available to take care of patients."
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Doctors: Emergency rooms, urgent care see about 50% fewer patients amid pandemic - WHEC
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