IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v125y2021i9p1173-1178.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reduction of the emergency activity, during the Covid 19 Italian lockdown, what's the lesson to learn?

Author

Listed:
  • Inama, M
  • Casaril, A
  • Alberti, L
  • Cappellari, T F
  • Impellizzeri, H G
  • Bacchion, M
  • Creciun, M
  • Moretto, G

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic was declared on the 9th of March 2020. The health crisis affected the whole world with a very high and unexpected number of infected people. The situation forced the declaration of lockdown and a worldwide health system reorganization. Surprisingly, the social distancing laws caused a reduction of urgent hospital activities not COVID 19 related. The aim of this manuscript is to analyze the reasons why fewer emergencies were described during the 2020 Italian lockdown. The Data reporting urgent Emergency Room (ER) activity, during the first three weeks of the Italian lockdown (Group 1), were analyzed and compared with the same period in 2019 (Group 2). During the study period in 2020, there was a 46,5% reduction in ER activity compared to that in 2019. Nevertheless, the hospitalization rate was higher in the 2020 then in 2019 (p<0.05). The present data showed that almost half of the basic ER activity araised from mild health problems that could be followed by territorial health services. The strengthening of territorial medical services would allow hospitals to handle critical situations more easily and to focus activity by reducing the waiting list.

Suggested Citation

  • Inama, M & Casaril, A & Alberti, L & Cappellari, T F & Impellizzeri, H G & Bacchion, M & Creciun, M & Moretto, G, 2021. "Reduction of the emergency activity, during the Covid 19 Italian lockdown, what's the lesson to learn?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(9), pages 1173-1178.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:125:y:2021:i:9:p:1173-1178
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.07.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851021001986
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.07.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keogh-Brown, Marcus Richard & Smith, Richard David, 2008. "The economic impact of SARS: How does the reality match the predictions?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 110-120, October.
    2. Smith, Richard D., 2006. "Responding to global infectious disease outbreaks: Lessons from SARS on the role of risk perception, communication and management," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 3113-3123, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gian Maria Campedelli & Alberto Aziani & Serena Favarin, 2020. "Exploring the Effects of COVID-19 Containment Policies on Crime: An Empirical Analysis of the Short-term Aftermath in Los Angeles," Papers 2003.11021, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2020.
    2. Anirudh Shingal & Prachi Agarwal, 2020. "How did trade in GVC-based products respond to previous health shocks? Lessons for COVID-19," RSCAS Working Papers 2020/68, European University Institute.
    3. Marcus R. Keogh‐Brown & Simon Wren‐Lewis & W. John Edmunds & Philippe Beutels & Richard D. Smith, 2010. "The possible macroeconomic impact on the UK of an influenza pandemic," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(11), pages 1345-1360, November.
    4. Chang, Tsung-Sheng, 2021. "Social distancing in retail: Influence of perceived retail crowding and self-efficacy on employees’ perceived risks," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Noy , Ilan & Shields, Sharlan, 2019. "The 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Epidemic: A Retroactive Examination of Economic Costs," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 591, Asian Development Bank.
    6. Fang, Guanfu & Feng, Jin, 2021. "Is the 2003 SARS epidemic over? Long-term effects of epidemic exposure on mortality among older adults," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    7. Dunia Rassy & Richard D. Smith, 2013. "The economic impact of H1N1 on Mexico's tourist and pork sectors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(7), pages 824-834, July.
    8. Khan, Safi Ullah, 2022. "Financing constraints and firm-level responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: International evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    9. Wen, Jun & Wang, Siqin & Yang, Xiuyun & Zhou, Xiaozhou, 2023. "Impacts of epidemics on innovation: An empirical analysis," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Verikios, George, 2020. "The dynamic effects of infectious disease outbreaks: the case of pandemic influenza and human coronavirus," MPRA Paper 104434, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Abolfazl Mollalo & Alireza Mohammadi & Sara Mavaddati & Behzad Kiani, 2021. "Spatial Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-14, November.
    12. Marc Jim Mariano & George Verikios, 2022. "Understanding the Effects of Coronavirus on Australian Households: A Macro–Micro Analysis," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 41(3), pages 215-231, September.
    13. Talwar, Manish & Talwar, Shalini & Kaur, Puneet & Tripathy, Naliniprava & Dhir, Amandeep, 2021. "Has financial attitude impacted the trading activity of retail investors during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Costa-Font, Montserrat & Asquini, Martina, 2023. "The impact of perceived COVID-19 risks, food waste generation and food purchase control on the food security status during the pandemic," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334511, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    15. Arielle Kaim & Eli Jaffe & Maya Siman-Tov & Ella Khairish & Bruria Adini, 2020. "Impact of a Brief Educational Intervention on Knowledge, Perceived Knowledge, Perceived Safety, and Resilience of the Public During COVID-19 Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Christos Nicolaides & Demetris Avraam & Luis Cueto‐Felgueroso & Marta C. González & Ruben Juanes, 2020. "Hand‐Hygiene Mitigation Strategies Against Global Disease Spreading through the Air Transportation Network," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 723-740, April.
    17. Verikios, George & Sullivan, Maura & Stojanovski, Pane & Giesecke, James & Woo, Gordon, 2011. "The Global Economic Effects of Pandemic Influenza," Conference papers 332033, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    18. Yothin Jinjarak & Ilan Noy & Quy Ta, 2022. "Pandemics and Economic Growth: Evidence from the 1968 H3N2 Influenza," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 73-93, March.
    19. Hongfang Han & Yanhong Qian, 2021. "Did Enterprises' Innovation Ability Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence From Chinese Listed Companies," Asian Economics Letters, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 1(3), pages 1-5.
    20. Sharon, Teitler Regev & Shahrabani, Shosh, 2021. "Health precautions while traveling after COVID-19," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7, pages 68-73.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:125:y:2021:i:9:p:1173-1178. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.