I realize the last several days have probably ramped up everyone’s anxiety levels as we deal with this pandemic. I wanted to reach out and share some of the information that I have been given and what the care protocol will be going forward with any patients who are ill.
In Case of Illness:
1. The most important is: If you are ill, have a fever, cough, upper respiratory symptoms, etc – PLEASE SELF QUARANTINE. IF YOU ARE HAVING ANY TYPE OF SHORTNESS OF BREATH / RESPIRATORY DISTRESS, GO TO THE ER IMMEDIATELY.
2. If you feel that you have anything sinus related, cough, fever, upper respiratory and you are NOT short of breath, please do not come to the office. Please call the office at 727-522-1972. We have been instructed to do phone consults to determine whether a person meets criteria for testing for coronavirus. This also helps us better determine if it is safe to come to the office in person. There are ways to test for this, but we cannot send in the nasal swab of a Person Under Investigation without the permission of the Department of Health/CDC. All criteria must be met in order to do so.
Keeping Yourself and Others Safe
1. The virus can be killed easily with good hygiene and common sense. Proper hand washing techniques, aerosol disinfectants, and wipes all go a long way to stopping the spread. In addition, sneeze into your elbow, not touching your face, etc.
2. What makes this virus more concerning is that, according to research coming out, it can stay alive in the air for SEVERAL HOURS and on surface for SEVERAL DAYS. Therefore we must be vigilant with cleaning our environment.
3. The “shedding” period and incubation phase can last a very long time before an infected individual show signs/symptoms. This is why we are all encouraged to stay home and not go out anywhere that we will come into contact with a large group of people. And remember, even if you feel that your immune system can handle it, what about those around you? If you don’t know that you are spreading it to others, you may spread to someone whose immune system cannot handle this infection very easily. So again, please be vigilant with cleaning and common sense.
Boosting Your Immune System
I strongly encourage everyone to work toward boosting your immune system as much as possible during this outbreak. The stronger your T cells and immune system can fight this, the less likely you will have severe complications.
The following are all ways of helping boost your immune system:
Sleep
Stress Relief
Good Nutrition
Exercise
Supplemental Products that have been found to help Immunity (Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Elderberry, Astragalus, Glutathione, N-Acetyl Cysteine, Some Mushroom types, Glutamine, Zinc and Silver ) to name a few.
If you are interested in scheduling a phone consult to discuss some individual recommendations to boost your immune system and/or to order some of the above supplements,
please call the office at 727-522-1972
Please let me know if you have any questions. Please be patient with callbacks, as I have to now triage what comes in, given the volume of calls. And those are ill or have immediate medical problems will be dealt with first.
I will continue giving you updates as anything changes. Stay safe everyone!
Dr. Ohms