LAUSR

Study Objective: New York City Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst located in Queens, New York, has one of the most diverse patient populations in the United States, and likely the world, and was deemed the “epicenter” of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 Given its unique population, high number of Covid-19 cases and growing concern that Covid-19 disproportionately affects minority patients, this study seeks to examine the correlation between ethnicity and time from symptoms onset to ED presentation to further understand this disparity Methods: This is a retrospective chart review of 2216 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) with 2254 unique ED visits Preliminary analysis was conducted on 212 of these patients with data extracted from Epic through chart review for time from symptom onset to ED presentation and documented ethnicity, defined for this study as Hispanic or non-Hispanic Symptom onset to ED presentation was defined as one of seven categories: one through seven days or >1 week The data were analyzed using statistical analysis software to assess for correlation between ethnicity and time of symptom onset to ED presentation Results: Results demonstrated that 37 5% of Hispanics presented to the ED after one week of symptoms as compared to 34 9% of non-Hispanics (p>0 05) Of non-Hispanics, 22 2% presented after one day of symptoms While not, statistically significant, this demonstrates a trend toward Hispanics having a delay from symptom onset to ED presentation Further analysis of available data is pending Conclusion: Based on preliminary data, ethnicity does not seem to predict symptom onset to ED presentation This aids in determining causes of high mortality rates of COVID-19 minority populations Several media outlets have suggested that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected minorities and this paper sought to examine possible confounders to this statement Further research and analyses are underway and it is hypothesized that other social determinants of health care likely play a role in this disparity