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With medical visits picking up again among patients vaccinated against COVID-19, health providers are starting to see the consequences of a year of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care as they find more advanced cancer and rotting and damaged teeth, among other ailments.
Brian R. Rah, chair of the Cardiology Department at Montana's Billings Clinic, was confused in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Why the sudden drop in heart attack patients at the clinic? And why did some who did come arrive hours after first feeling chest pains?
Two patients, both of whom suffered greater heart damage by delaying care, provided what came to be typical answers. One said he was afraid of contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, by going to the hospital. The other patient went to the emergency room in the morning, left after finding it too crowded, then returned that night when he thought there would be fewer patients — and a lower risk of catching COVID-19.