A domestic study found that the number of pediatric patients visiting the emergency room increased significantly after the lifting of the mask mandate, which began with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A research team at Ulsan Medical University analyzed 18,654 patients under the age of 18 who visited the pediatric emergency medical center from January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, and found that the number of patients increased by 61% before and after the mask mandate was lifted. The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the Korean Pediatric Emergency Medical Association.

The research team defined the period from March 20 to June 30 last year, when the mask mandate was lifted, as the period after the mask was lifted, and the same period in the previous year as the period before the mask was lifted. In terms of age, the increase rate of patients aged 2 to 5 was the highest at 82.9 percent. In terms of severity, the growth rate of patients with mild symptoms in the third stage was the largest, while the rate of hospitalized patients decreased from 9.6 percent to 6.0 percent. In addition, the number of visitors on Fridays and Saturdays increased a lot, but the frequency of patients visiting more than 10 people per hour increased 30 times, which also increased the congestion in the emergency room. The research team said, "Improvements are needed as it can hinder the safety of emergency rooms like in temporary disasters," and added, "In the short term, we can expand the number of specialists to reduce patients' time to stay in the emergency room and increase safety."

Reporter Ahn Sang-hyun
Input 2024.01.02. 10:55