Valley medical centers implement walk-in clinics to relieve urgent care rooms

PHOENIX - Urgent and emergency care have seen an influx of patients in the past few weeks in Arizona as COVID-19 cases grow across the state.

To ease some of the burden placed on hospitals and clinics, The CORE Institute accounced that it will be providing walk-in orthopedic urgent care services at all of the clinical sites.

The health care service has seven locations in the Valley, and treats everyday, inevitable injuries the public may face, such as sprained ankles and broken legs.

"Despite all of this, people still get injured, and emergency rooms and urgent care centers are starting to get very, very busy," said Jason Scalise, a doctor at the institute. "We wanted to make sure that we could keep our services available to help offload those teams."

Patients can come walk in without an appointment for more run-of-the-mill musculoskeletal injuries like back pain or lacerations and can get X-ray or casts - however, for those who are feeling unwell, Scalise advises people to go to an emergency room instead.

Symptoms for coronavirus COVID-19 include fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. These, of course, are similar to the common cold and flu.

Expect a common cold to start out with a sore or scratchy throat, cough, runny and/or stuffy nose. Flu symptoms are more intense and usually come on suddenly, and can include a high fever.

Symptoms of COVID-19 may appear more slowly. They usually include fever, a dry cough and noticeable shortness of breath, according to the World Health Organization. A minority of cases develop pneumonia, and the disease is especially worrisome for the elderly and those with other medical problems such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes or heart conditions.