Regional Trends of COVID-19-Like Illness- Related Emergency Department Visits in North Carolina (March 1, 2020–November 30, 2020)

Background An evaluation of emergency department (ED) visits and the number of patients seeking care for COVID-19-like illness (CLI) during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in North Carolina has not been exclusively described. Purpose To characterize CLI-related ED visits across North Carolina from March 1 to November 30, 2020. Methods This was a retrospective, descriptive study. Data from the North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) and the US Census Bureau were used to calculate CLI-related ED visit rates for the North Carolina resident patient population, and to compare and describe regional trends (Eastern, Piedmont, and Western). Results A total of 133,193 CLI-related ED visits were evaluated. Across the 3 regions, CLI-related ED visits followed similar trends with the highest peaks being reported in mid-July and late November 2020. The Piedmont region experienced the highest percent (56.3%), while people aged 25–49 years accounted for the largest age group (35.0 %) of CLI-related ED visits. More CLI-related ED visits occurred for White individuals (47.8%), but the Eastern region had a far higher percent (44.8%) of reported CLI-related ED visits for Black and American Indian individuals compared to the rest of the state. Limitations ICD-10-CM codes were not available during the early weeks of the pandemic, which limited the ability to evaluate CLI-related data during this time. Discussion This evaluation summarizes regional trends of CLI-related ED visits across North Carolina during the first 9 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results provide useful information and insight for public health officials, health care administrators, and policymakers.