How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Changed Cancer Care, In 4 Charts

Before the pandemic, about 1,000 new patients came to Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for treatment consultations each week. When COVID-19 hit Massachusetts this spring, the number of new consultations fell by half and the hospital moved as many appointments as possible online.
Now, with daily case counts relatively low in the area, the hospital is back to scheduling about 800 consultations per week, using a mixture of telemedicine and in-person appointments, says associate chief medical officer Dr. Andrew Wagner—but that still means about 200 cancer patients per week are not getting the treatment consultations they would in more normal times. Continued travel restrictions and fear of infection likely play a part, but many would-be patients aren’t setting up appointments because they don’t know they need to. The number of cancer screenings happening nationwide plummeted this spring when lockdowns went into effect, meaning many of the people who would be seeking care from Wagner and his colleagues don’t yet know they have cancer at all.

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Source: TIME: Health - August 28, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme and Emily Barone Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news