The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmological emergency department visits

The novel coronavirus (2019‐nCoV) appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan and precipitously extended across the globe. On the evening of 9 March 2020, the Italian Government ordered a national lockdown to limit social interactions and contain the spread of the infection. As evident in other epidemics, peoples’ fear of infection may affect their utilization patterns of health services and reduce the access to health care (Chang et al. 2004). We have previously noted a significant change in the trends of eye injuries since the beginning of the lockdown (Pellegrini et al. 2020). Herein, we aimed to assess the influence of COVID‐19 on ophthalmological emergency department visits.