NIDA's Science Behind Addiction: Yale emergency care and addiction medicine physician, researcher, and advocate Dr. Gail D’Onofrio and NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow discuss COVID-19, substance use disorder and emergency room care.
Video length: :59
Transcript
[Dr. Volkow speaking]
What has changed in the emergency department since…In the last few months when we have been overcome by the COVID pandemic?
[Dr. Gail D’Onofrio speaking]
You know, we all throughout the country, have really seen similar things in that our overall volume has decreased. In most places that's been as much as 40% less than what we generally see. It's really scary because we know that people aren't coming to the ED that have heart attacks, or strokes, or other symptoms, or even use disorder withdrawal, or seeking treatment. Because they're so afraid to come, they're paralyzed that they may get COVID while they're there. On the other hand, we've seen really lots of patients, at least in my area, New England, and at Yale New Haven Hospital, we've seen an overwhelming amount of COVID. Um, and that was overwhelming. Right now those numbers have gone significantly down.