Effects of COVID-19 lockdown strategies on emergency medical services

The aim of this study is to evaluate the change in the number of EMS cases by comparing the lockdown period, the non-lockdown period, and the pre-pandemic period.

In our study, 3 periods of EMS cases were compared to evaluate the effect of lockdown. The first period (Period A) included in the study was the lockdown period (01-12-2020 and 31-01-2021. The second period (period B) is the period between 01 and 10-2020 and 30-11-2020, where there was no lockdown despite the pandemic. The third period (period C) in the study is the period between 01 and 12-2019 and 31-01-2020 before the pandemic.

A total of 120,989 cases in 3 periods were included in the study. It was determined that the highest number of patients were in period C (42,703, 35.3%), while the least was in period A (39,054, 32.2%). On the other hand, it was found that the number of calls was highest in period A (246,200, 35.1%), while the least was in period C (212,267, 30.2%). Response times were longer in the pandemic period than in the pre-pandemic period. Mean talk time were longer during the pandemic period. The most frequent diagnosis in period A (21.6%) and B (42.2%) was COVID-19. The second most frequent disease group in these two periods was cardiovascular diseases.

While the number of EMS cases decreased during the pandemic period, it decreased even more during the lockdown period. However, the number of calls increased significantly during the lockdown period, and the response times and talk times increased accordingly.