Communication with FACTS is the most important thing we can contribute to this discussion. Fear and misinformation make this serious situation worse. This situation does not call for opinions. It it not helpful.
Listen to your local medical team, local and state health officials, the experts at NIH (Dr Fauci) and CDC (Dr Bix) for the most up to date information. The Johns Hopkins website is also an excellent place for information. The information Kevin is posting is also an excellent resource.
As an oncology nurse at Duke, we have not changed our practices during this situation. We have had visitor restrictions in place since December when our flu numbers started to increase. I do see more hand sanitizer stations at the entrances to the hospital and clinic buildings. NO masks! We are treating our patients and staying calm. My clinic has not seen a decrease in patient appointments and I have received very few messages from patients about cancellations. Hand washing for 20 seconds and use paper towels to dry your hands. Stop using hand towels!
As an employee, administration has now implemented new travel conditions- no travel to the level 2/3 countries, all international travel must be registered with our international travel office, any person returning from travel and has flu like symptoms must self quarantine for 14 days and must clear employee health before returning to work. The clinic buildings are locked down from 6p-6a. For employees a fever is 100.3 - that is new
Use good common sense! If you don’t feel well stay home and contact your primary care doctor. If your health team offers tele-medicine use that instead of going to the clinic or urgent care. Make sure you have a supply of your prescription drugs. At some point the supply chain for medications is going to be disrupted. We saw this after hurricane Maria, with IV supplies from Puerto Rico.
If I receive any further information from our administration I will share. Enjoy the weekend!
Charlotte
