Original message sent July 21, 2020

Stats as of close of business Monday 7/20/20

Time period: 6/15/20-7/20/20

# of symptomatic patients tested - 428

# of patients positive for Covid-19 - 93

Effective positive rate 22%

We continue to see an increasing population of patients with Covid-19 related symptoms. As the numbers indicate above the positive rate is more than 4 fold what it was the 1st time around, as is the number of sick patients we are seeing.

To the best of our knowledge only 2 patients were hospitalized and thankfully neither was ever placed on a ventilator, and both have been discharged.

The CDC continues to update the guidance on returning people to work, currently it is a minimum of 10 days post onset of symptoms with a minimum of 24 hours without fever and an improvement in symptoms. The return to work guidance is the same regardless of whether test is positive or negative. False negative rates continue to be suspected to be in the 30% range.

Family members of a tested patient can be released from quarantine upon a negative test result provided family members being released remain symptom free and originally tested patients symptoms are getting no worse.

Test result times have been greatly reduced with our facility getting special priority tags putting us ahead of the line compared to lower priority tests. What was a 7-10 day turn around 2 weeks ago is now a 24-72 hour turn around in most cases. Unfortunately testing supplies have now become the problem, while we are not at a critical stage yet we have had to reverse our policy testing people for travel related reasons that are asymptomatic.

We are in line to recieve one of Abbott Laboratories molecular testing platforms which will allow us to do our own nasal swab tests in house with a 10 minute turn around. The downside is that we are told we probably will not see the machine until early September. Hopefully this new rash of Covid infections will not affect that delivery.

Reminder Info

We will continue to have a clean side to the clinic for essential visits, such as pre-ops, chronic disease consultations, medicine consults, pediatric well child vaccinations, etc. If you feel you need to be seen for a non-sick visit we will accommodate you.

Our providers here in the Wellness Center continue to offer telehealth visits, where practical and beneficial to the patient. EAP and our own in-house psychiatric services are probably the most commonly offered telehealth service. Other types of telehealth visits such as follow-ups, medication consults and chronic disease consultations are also available on a case by case basis, contact the front desk to see if your provider thinks this type of visit will work for you.

A new process we have established for sick patients is to have you wait in your car after check in until your room is ready. And as before all rooms will be sanitized after each patient.

Healthy patients will be asked to enter the building by the side door, which many of you are familiar with by now.

We will continue to put out updates on the situation as necessary. Our best wishes to all of you to stay healthy and as always if you need anything please call.

As a reminder the Wellness Center hours will be 8am-7pm Monday thru Friday and 9am-4pm on Saturday. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Remember wash your hands frequently and practice social distancing, wear face coverings when necessary and for those of you on the trucks please use your PPE at all times and practice good hygiene!