Doctors are once again warning you not to be afraid to seek medical help if you are elderly or have a chronic illness. There are still many who are so worried about catching COVID-19, they won't got to a hospital or a clinic.
Doctors say they're concerned about a condition that might be just as deadly as COVID-19: the fear of COVID-19.
Yes, Doctors say fear of the coronavirus is the root cause of some patients dying.
“The anxiety from any illness is bad. But secondly, what happened was people delayed coming to the hospital. ‘Oh, if I come to the hospital, I’ll get the COVID and die.’ By the time they arrived, things had progressed to the point where it was really challenging,” Dr. Joseph Alpert, editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Medicine, told KTRH.
Dr. Alpert, who is based in Arizona, says he had patients who waited a year or more to seek urgent care.
“It was really awful. I had patients that were much sicker than I had seen in the same service in a year or even two years ago,” Alpert explained.
Some studies report recent hospital morality rates are higher. However, those rates are not due to COVID-19, but due patients with serious illnesses not seeking help until it's too late. Alpert’s bottom line: ask for help sooner rather than later.