It is no secret that many hospital emergency departments are struggling. I recently tweeted some tips about how to access care during this overwhelming wave of COVID-19 in the U.S.
These aren't ideas I ever thought I would suggest to anyone outside of Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs), where need for care greatly exceeds the ability of the involved health care systems to provide care.
However, millions of Americans decided seeing Granny for the holidays was more important than a functional health care system.
So here we are: the U.S. COVID-19 clusterfuck is a nationwide MCI. For those considering a trip to the ED during the pandemic, here are a few suggestions: 1.