Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department visits: experience of a Brazilian reference center.

Objective: To analyze the impact of COVID-19 on emergency department metrics at a large tertiary reference hospital in Brazil.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of consecutive emergency department visits, from January 1, 2020, to November 21, 2020, was performed and compared to the corresponding time frame in 2018 and 2019. The volume of visits and patients' demographic and clinic characteristics were compared.