Risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) from hospital admission and the impact of protection efforts on acute stroke treatment.

Abstract Background It is unclear how interventions designed to restrict community and in-hospital exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus influenced stroke care for patients seeking acute treatment. Therefore, we aimed to determine how these COVID-19 interventions impacted acute stroke treatment times and to assess the risk of contracting COVID-19 due to their stay in our medical center. Methods Retrospective, single center, two-phase study evaluating hospital and community trends from 12/2019 – 04/2020 compared to the previous year and pre/post (n = 156/93) intervention implementation. Phase I assessed stroke treatment times, delay to hospital arrival, and witnessed stroke volume. Phase II, a post-implementation telephone survey, assessed risk of developing symptoms or testing positive for COVID-19. Results Stroke volume declined by 29% (p  Conclusions Seeking acute stroke medical care outweighs the risk of COVID-19 exposure.