Activity and the incidence of emergencies: Evidence from daily data at the onset of a pandemic

Jorge Alé-Chilet (jorge.ale-chilet@biu.ac.il), Juan Pablo Atal (ataljp@econ.upenn.edu) and Patricio Domínguez (atri-ciodo@iadb.org)
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Jorge Alé-Chilet: Bar-Ilan University
Juan Pablo Atal: University of Pennsylvania
Patricio Domínguez: Inter-American Development Bank

PIER Working Paper Archive from Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract: This study examines the e?ect of social and economic activity on emergency room care utilization. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency non-respiratory visits dramatically dropped in many countries around the globe. Using daily level data of all public healthcare facilities in Chile with novel mobility data we show that the crisis-induced changes in mobility patterns explain a large portion of the 50 per-cent drop in non-respiratory emergency room visits in the country. Our results reveal that an important reason for the dramatic drop in non-COVID-19 utilization of emer-gency care is the lower incidence of emergencies. We also provide evidence that the lower emergency department utilization did not cause higher mortality. These results suggest that measures restricting mobility during a public health crisis may have the unexpected benefit for public health of freeing up healthcare resources.

Keywords: Health Care; Emergencies; Mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 I12 I15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2020-05-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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