Californians asked not to use strained ERs for virus testing

Californians asked not to use strained ERs for virus testing

Throughout the country, people have been scouring for hard-to-find coronavirus tests, prompting the American College of Emergency Physicians to ask them to not go looking at emergency rooms. In Southern California’s Orange County, Dr. Chris Fox, chair of emergency medicine at UCI Medical Center, said 5% to 10% of people at his hospital’s emergency room fit that category. “They start to feel flu-like symptoms and they freak out and the path of least resistance is the emergency room,” he said, noting his facility is seeing 200 people in the ER daily compared to 140 normally. “When we get overrun with people who don’t need us but are using us because it is the most convenient path of least resistance, then we don’t have the capacity for people who really need us,” Fox said.