Emergency Medical Service Transport of Patients with COVID-19

This retrospective study of EMS transports found that many patients subsequently confirmed to have COVID-19 called 911 for complaints seemingly unrelated to the disease.

Emergency medical services (EMS) professionals respond to emergent calls with little information and few resources to care for ill and injured patients. These authors report presentations for the 16% of laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in King County, Washington that were transported by EMS between February 1 and March 18, 2020.

Of the 124 patients, nearly half were transported from long-term care facilities. Fever, cough, or shortness of breath were documented in 70.7% of patients. However, many dispatches were for issues seemingly unrelated to COVID-19, including trauma (15.0%), cardiac symptoms (9.5%), bleeding or pain (5.4%), and stroke or headache (4.1%). In fact, EMS professionals knew of or suspected COVID-19 only in about half …

Reviewing Author

Lauren M. Westafer, DO, MPH, MS

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Editorial BoardsAnnals of Emergency Medicine

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAcademy for Academic Women in Emergency Medicine (Social Media Chair)

Lauren M. Westafer, DO, MPH, MS

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Editorial BoardsAnnals of Emergency Medicine

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAcademy for Academic Women in Emergency Medicine (Social Media Chair)

Emergency Medical Service Transport of Patients with COVID-19

Topics

Reviewing Author