Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov 9;1(6):1205-1213.
doi: 10.1002/emp2.12301. eCollection 2020 Dec.

System impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City's emergency medical services

David J Prezant  1   2   3 , Elizabeth A Lancet  2 , Rachel Zeig-Owens  1   3   4 , Pamela H Lai  2 , David Appel  1   3 , Mayris P Webber  1   4 , James Braun  2 , Charles B Hall  5 , Glenn Asaeda  2 , Bradley Kaufman  2 , Michael D Weiden  1   6
Affiliations

System impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City's emergency medical services

David J Prezant et al. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City's (NYC) 9-1-1 emergency medical services (EMS) system and assess the efficacy of pandemic planning to meet increased demands.

Methods: Longitudinal analysis of NYC 9-1-1 EMS system call volumes, call-types, and response times during the COVID-19 peak-period (March 16-April 15, 2020) and post-surge period (April 16-May 31, 2020) compared with the same 2019 periods.

Results: EMS system received 30,469 more calls from March 16-April 15, 2020 compared with March 16-April 15, 2019 (161,815 vs 127,962; P < 0.001). On March 30, 2020, call volume increased 60% compared with the same 2019 date. The majority were for respiratory (relative risk [RR] = 2.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.44-2.56) and cardiovascular (RR = 1.85; 95% CI = 1.82-1.89) call-types. The proportion of high-acuity, life-threatening call-types increased compared with 2019 (42.3% vs 36.4%). Planned interventions to prioritize high-acuity calls resulted in the average response time increasing by 3 minutes compared with an 11-minute increase for low low-acuity calls. Post-surge, EMS system received fewer calls compared with 2019 (154,310 vs 193,786; P < 0.001).

Conclusions: COVID-19-associated NYC 9-1-1 EMS volume surge was primarily due to respiratory and cardiovascular call-types. As the pandemic stabilized, call volume declined to below pre-pandemic levels. Our results highlight the importance of EMS system-wide pandemic crisis planning.

Keywords: COVID‐19 pandemic; disaster planning; emergency medical services; pandemic planning.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Daily number of New York City (NYC) 9‐1‐1 emergency medical services (EMS) calls, hospitalizations, and intubated patients during the COVID‐19 period and 1 year prior. The orange line shows EMS 9‐1‐1 calls from 2020. The gray line shows comparison EMS 9‐1‐1 calls from 2019. The black line shows daily COVID‐19 related hospital admissions and the yellow line the number of intubated patents in NYC hospitals
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Daily number of New York City (NYC) 9‐1‐1 emergency medical services (EMS) calls by medical versus trauma call‐type during the COVID‐19 period and 1 year prior. The orange lines show EMS 9‐1‐1 calls from 2020 (solid line, medical call‐types; dashed line, trauma call‐types). The gray lines show comparison EMS 9‐1‐1 calls from 2019 (solid line, medical call‐types; dashed line, trauma call‐types)
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Average New York City (NYC) 9‐1‐1 emergency medical services (EMS) system times for each day February 15–May 31 (COVID‐19 vs 1 year prior). The red line shows response time from 2020. The blue line shows comparison from 2019. Three components of system times in minutes are shown (A) response time, (B) on‐scene time, and (C) hospital turnaround time at the ED
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Average New York City (NYC) 9‐1‐1 emergency medical services (EMS) system times for low and high acuity assignments during the COVID‐19 epidemic peak versus 1 year prior. The yellow bar represents high acuity call‐types and the blue bar represents low acuity call‐types during the COVID‐19 peak period (March 16–April 15, 2020) and the comparison period (March 16–April 15, 2019). System time is divided into 3 components—response time (call assignment to being on‐scene), on‐scene time, and hospital turnaround time at the ED
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene . COVID‐19: Data—coronavirus‐data/case‐hosp‐death.csv 2020; https://github.com/nychealth/coronavirus-data/blob/master/case-hosp-deat.... Accessed November 2, 2020.
    1. Baum A, Schwartz MD. Admissions to veterans affairs hospitals for emergency conditions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. JAMA. 2020;324(1):96‐99. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carenzo L, Costantini E, Greco M, et al. Hospital surge capacity in a tertiary emergency referral center during the COVID‐19 outbreak in Italy. Anaesthesia. 2020;75(7):928‐934. - PubMed
    1. Richardson S, Hirsch JS, Narasimhan M, et al. Presenting characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes among 5700 patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 in the New York City area. JAMA. 2020;323(20):2052‐2059. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weissman GE, Crane‐Droesch A, Chivers C, et al. Locally informed simulation to predict hospital capacity needs during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173(1):21‐28. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources