Vaccinations with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have started. We do not yet have any for our patients, but are poised to begin immunizations as soon as DPH supplies us. This may be February. Meantime, Covid-19 disease risk is at an all-time high in Massachusetts and may well worsen. Keep safe. DO NOT SPEND TIME INDOORS IN GROUPS other than regular household members.
The first mRNA vaccine from Pfizer has shipped. The vaccines are highly effective and will make a major difference, but most reasonably healthy people will not get vaccinated until at least Q2 next year. There also may be availability issues with the vaccines. Meantime, the Covid-19 pandemic is surging and we have to be extra cautious for this whole winter. Do not despair, but be rigorous in protecting yourselves.
We are doing in-person visits for checkups and urgent problems, but this Fall’s massive Covid-19 surge, which is expected to worsen in January, may make the face-to-face contacts too risky. Fortunately, video visits are a pretty good substitute much of the time.
Antigen testing reduces the risks of unknowingly exposing others to an asymptomatic person who is actually infectious with Covid-19. We explain how we charge for the tests when used for screening v. diagnostic purposes.
A brief review of the multiple ways we work to protect you and our staff in our clinical environment, including improvements in HVAC, aggressive cleaning and PPE, and SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing for patients and staff. These efforts all serve to reduce the risk of passing or acquiring Covid-19 in the OHC clinical office.
We provide multiple brief updates about the state of the Covid-19 pandemic, the vaccines, the treatments or lack thereof, how you isolate, and what the future holds. Stay the course. Keep your guard up. Get your flu shot. We are in this for a long time.
We are still in the midst of a pandemic that has subsided in Massachusetts but is still very much with us and could easily rebound. We need to remain vigilant in our self care. No real good news. US infections and deaths are at high levels and increasing. An effective and proven vaccine is not realistic until next year and then will take many months to distribute. Keep up your careful self care. This is depressing but real.
We have begun in-office visits for appropriate urgent problems that are best handled with direct doctor-patient contact. We will continue to use primarily video visits through July (which are effective), but are considering offering some in-office checkups and routine follow-ups in August if allowed by the state, though such routine visits may not happen till after Labor Day. We all need more experience handling in-person care, which is now much more complex because of sanitation, separation and PPE requirements during this epidemic.
We are doing relatively well in Massachusetts. Wearing masks, frequent handwashing, and keeping social distance combine as an effective barrier against Covid-19. We need to maintain these practices and stay vigilant. Certain normal activities like going to the supermarket or Costco are low-risk, as is socializing outdoors. Cleaners and service-people are low-risk in your home. But indoor activities including in your living room or a restaurant remain high-risk to all concerned.
We are now doing in-office visits for patients with urgent problems. Most visits will continue via remote video links. We have reconfigured our procedures to include previsit screening for remote or office visits. We will ask people to wait in their cars. We will minimize the number of patients in office and keep the visit itself to essentials. In addition, we now have ability to test every patient for active SARS-CoV-2 virus by a nasal swab and get results in 15 minutes. We expect to integrate this in all our visits now.
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