The authors found 42% fewer patients admitted from weeks 11-16 compared to 5-10. The authors reported the decrease in admission for the 6 emergency conditions were comparable in magnitude to the decrease in overall VA admission, which they attributed to patients avoiding hospitalization in fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2.

Study limitations

• VA population might not be representative/ generalizable to the general population
• Usage of pre-existing VA cohort
• Limited long-term studies on out-of-hospital mortality data