Health-seeking and diagnosis delay and its associated factors: a case study on COVID-19 infections in Shaanxi Province, China

Abstract This time-to-event study examines social factors associated with health-seeking and diagnosis of 165 COVID-19 cases in response to the pandemic spread in Shaanxi Province, China. In particular, we investigate the differential access to healthcare in terms of delayed time from symptom onset to first medical visit and subsequently to diagnosis by factors such as sex, age, travel history, and type of healthcare utilization. We show that it takes more time for patients older than 60 (against those under 30) to seek healthcare after developing symptoms (+ 2.5 days, $$p