Hidden Death Toll: Doctors Say People Dying As They Avoid ERs Due to COVID Fears

A man wears a mask as he walks past the emergency department of the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, B.C., on April 3, 2020. Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press

Health care providers are warning of an unseen effect of COVID-19 if people die because they are too afraid to go to an emergency room for serious health issues unrelated to the pandemic.

”There’s going to be secondary harm. Make no mistake,” said Dr. Alan Drummond with the Canadian Federation of Emergency Physicians.