There are a host of reasons why I want to avoid the hospital emergency room right now at all costs.
The first reason that comes to my mind is my really horrid credit rating. I just dipped below 600 points after an old hospital bill went into collections last month. It was regarding an emergency room visit while in a bad bout of food poisoning. I was being careless when cooking with raw meat and accidentally ingested bacteria that had me down for more than four days. The high bill makes me pretty upset when I remember that I could have avoided the entire situation by paying attention to what I was doing. I called the financial assistance office at the hospital and was actually able to talk them into taking 50% of the bill instead of 100%, but I’m still worried that I won’t be able to pay it off before I try to finance a vehicle next spring. With this in mind, it’s obvious why I’d want to avoid another trip to the ER, regardless of the injury or health concern. The arguably bigger reason is the coronavirus. There are more people infected in hospitals so the inside becomes a petri dish for viral transmission. Even if the hospital installs HEPA air purifiers everywhere with UV-C bulbs inside, it’s not enough to assuage my ever constant concerns. I only have a few N-95 masks left, and I know I have worn them all at least once. I don’t want to be on the receiving end of viral particles that are being blown around the hospital’s interior by their ventilation system. All of the patients being treated for this disease may be within yards of the emergency room, with multiple waiting to be seen in the ER.