ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Nationwide, emergency room visits are down, Dr. Robert Poirier is director of the Barnes Jewish emergency department and an emergency medicine physician at Washington University School of Medicine and Dr. Fred Buckhold is a SLU Care general internist at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital discuss why that is.
Dr. Poirier says the Barnes-Jewish Hospital's ER is seeing about 180 patients a day now compared to 240 a day before the coronavirus pandemic hit here. He says many people are afraid to go to the ER -- incorrectly thinking they will pick up the coronavirus.
But Dr. Poirier says the ER is very safe and many precautions have been put in place to avoid any possible cross-contamination with the COVID virus. He says it is also very dangerous for people to avoid the ER when they are suffering something like a heart attack or a stroke.
Dr Buckhold, meanwhile, says it is not a good idea and very dangerous to use disinfectant on the body to treat coronavirus