COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remains a serious public health issue. We remain concerned for the health and welfare of our patients and staff. Although this crisis has negatively affected everyone in some form or another, we remain committed to providing the necessary care our patients need. Although our clinic schedule has been affected by this disease, we remain open to serve our patients in a modified fashion. This modified schedule includes surgery which has been appropriately reduced in accordance with state and federal guidelines. At this time, our surgical schedule includes some patients who’s condition(s) are urgent and who would be negatively affected by delaying their surgery. For those patients, we will seek to provide the best available options and care, surgery or otherwise, that their individual cases require.
What is COVID-19?
Coronaviruses are a class of viruses which are frequently found in certain animals such as bats, civets, and camels. In fact, some forms of coronaviruses cause a small percentage of the common cold. COVID-19 is the name for the disease state caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2. This virus is related to others which caused respiratory disease in 2003 (SARS-CoV) and in 2012 (MERS-CoV).
Coronaviruses are a class of viruses which are frequently found in certain animals such as bats, civets, and camels. In fact, some forms of coronaviruses cause a small percentage of the common cold. COVID-19 is the name for the disease state caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2. This virus is related to others which caused respiratory disease in 2003 (SARS-CoV) and in 2012 (MERS-CoV).
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
The symptoms of COVID-19 vary from one patient to another, but common features include: fever, fatigue, dry cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, body aches, loss of sense of taste or smell, and diarrhea. It is important to recognize that not all symptoms may be present in someone infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and that an individual may not have symptoms for anywhere from 2-14 days after being infected. The average time for symptoms to develop after being infected is 5-6 days.
Who is at risk for COVID-19?
Everyone is potentially at risk for COVID-19. For this reason, public health officials have enacted measures to reduce the spread of this disease. Unfortunately, there is a lot we do not know about the disease such as how quickly it spreads (infection rate) and why some individuals become very sick and die from the disease while others experience milder symptoms or no symptoms at all. For this reason, it is prudent to take extra precautions to guard against disease transmission.
What can be done to slow the spread of COVID-19?
A foundation of slowing the spread of COVID-19 is social distancing. This tactic keeps potentially infected individuals from transmitting the disease unwittingly to uninfected individuals. Good hygiene such as frequent hand-washing is also a key factor to our own health. In addition, other measures include avoiding touching your face with your hands, staying home except for necessary reasons, and avoiding social gatherings of more than 10 people.
Should everyone wear a mask?
This seems to be a controversial topic given the insufficient data currently available about how the virus spreads. Based upon the currently best available evidence, using a mask is more likely than not a good idea. It must be emphasized, however, that unless good technique is used when applying or taking off a mask, it could pose more of risk than benefit. For example, every time a mask is touched with your hands you risk contaminating the mask if good hand hygiene has not been used. Putting the mask on and taking it off increases the risk your hands will come in contact with your face. This increases the risk of spreading the virus to the mouth, nose, and eyes. So, avoid storing the mask in areas where it could become contaminated, avoid touching the inside of the mask with your hands, and avoid frequently taking the mask on and off your face.
When will the current social restrictions ease?
Disease modeling is an inexact science. In fact, it has been said, “All models are wrong, some are useful.” What this means is we don’t understand the disease well enough nor do we have sufficient data to establish a high degree of certainty regarding when the spread of COVID-19 will ease enough to loosen current restrictions.
For the most up-to-date information on COVID-19, we recommend you visit the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and the Utah Department of Health. Their resources and information should provide additional detail about this disease for those interested in learning more or with concerns and questions about this disease. In addition, for those interested in a scientific look at this disease, Dr. Williams highly recommends information provided by Dr. Peter Attia. He has found Dr. Attia’s scientific and reasonable approach very valuable.
Utah Department of Health: https://coronavirus.utah.gov
Dr. Peter Attia: www.peterattiamd.com/covid-19
Our Office Policy Regarding COVID-19
The ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 remains a public health risk for everyone. Public health officials and infectious disease experts anticipate the risk will persist into the foreseeable future. Consequently, our office has implemented changes to our policies and procedures in order to protect the health and safety of both our patients and staff. This policy takes into account advice from the CDC, the Utah Department of Health, and other public health officials in order to provide the best possible care during this challenging time.
Basic precautions have been made available to the public regarding the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We strongly encourage all patients and visitors to our office to adopt a sound personal policy and adhere to these guidelines in order to reduce disease transmission. These personal guidelines are as follows:
- Avoid unnecessary travel.
- Avoid public gatherings of more than 10 people.
- Individuals over 60 years of age should going out into public if at all possible.
- Immunocompromised individuals should avoid going out into public.
- Practice good social distancing.
- Practice good hygiene including frequent hand-washing.
- Practice good cough and sneeze etiquette (cough/sneeze into the pit of your elbow rather than your hands).
What we are doing:
- Patients are actively screened before coming to the clinic for symptoms related to COVID-19. Anyone with symptoms of this disease are being asked to reschedule their appointments.
- We are working with at-risk patients to reschedule their appointments to a later date or to a time when the clinic schedule reduces the risk for patient-to-patient interaction.
- We have modified our clinic hours and the number of patients scheduled each day in order to reduce the interactions between patients.
- We ask that patients bring no more than one visitor to their appointment.
- The waiting room is being wiped down frequently through the day and all books and magazines have been removed.
- Additional efforts are being made to wipe down and clean and treatment areas after every patient.
- We have reduced our surgery schedule in accordance with state and federal guidelines.
For obvious reasons, elective surgery and office-based care will not be scheduled in patients known to have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When additional guidelines become available from local and national public health officials, policy decisions regarding surgery on COVID-19 positive patients will be amended.
We appreciate your understanding and compliance with our desire to follow the advice of local, national, and world health leaders.
This document is subject to change as the COVID-19 crisis evolves and as more information about the pathology and spread of this infectious disease becomes available. This policy is based upon the best available evidence at the time of its publication. As dictated, changes to this policy will be posted and notification provided to all staff, employees, and patients.