Anchor lead: Should you resume routine cancer screening tests? Elizabeth Tracey reports
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, routine screening tests for cancer have fallen dramatically, a study by medical records vender EPIC shows. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, says surveys point to fear of infection.
Nelson: As we’re open for business there is still a little bit of reticence. The screening and early detection has not bounced back very quickly. There are some survey tools out that all say the same thing, that many people are reticent to visit healthcare facilities at all. They feel that this is the kind of place that you might be at high risk to catch a Sars-CoV2 infection. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Look, these are the risks here, these are the risks there, its time to pay attention to your cancer screening, and oh, by the way to your blood pressure checks, your cholesterol screening, and many other things that you may have deferred.  :34
Nelson notes that underserved populations also need to think about routine screenings to avoid some of the conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19 infections. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.