Governor Abbott’s Plan to Reopen Texas was announced on April 27th. In its entirety, the document includes 64 pages of information – including a description of the state’s long-term COVID-19 mitigation plan and expanding testing and contact tracing strategies, as well as general guidelines and health protocols for businesses and individuals. (You can read it here.) As the Austin community begins to consider how to gradually adjust to the ongoing management of daily activity during the “age of coronavirus”, we thought it might be useful to review guidance from state and local health officials regarding how to safely access health care services.
This article pertains specifically to planning for health care visits that are for the purpose of maintaining health and wellness. Keeping both body and mind in good condition is one of the best strategies to protect oneself from potential illness or injury. Over the last 6-8 weeks, most people have delayed or opted out of the bulk of their previously usual activity outside of the home. As such, annual well checks, vaccinations, and other health visits for the assessment of new issues unrelated to COVID-19 or for the management of pain, injury, or other conditions such as anxiety, asthma, depression, diabetes, or heart disease have likely not been occurring on an optimal schedule or timeline. Everyone’s individual situation is different, as will be each person or family’s time line for choosing to access medical care. Ongoing communication with your health care team can help you to determine how to plan appropriately for your specific needs.
When you are ready to visit your health care practitioners, here are 10 Tips that you can use as an individual to prepare for an appointment:
- Screen yourself on the day of your appointment for any signs and/or symptoms of illness. If you are not feeling well, delay your outing. Do not go out if you have any of these issues:
- Fever (a temperature of > 100.0 degrees)
- Chills
- Cough (if unrelated to familiar seasonal allergies)
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Diarrhea
- Bring and wear a mask or other cloth facial covering. (Most health care facilities will require this measure, in accordance with guidance from federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, though the Texas government has not specifically mandated mask use.)
- Plan to have any accompanying family members or other persons wait for you outside of the facility. This is a necessary procedure in order to keep lobby areas uncrowded for the safety of all clients and facility staff members.
- Prepare to have your temperature checked and recorded prior to your appointment. This is a double check that will likely occur even if you have screened yourself before arriving at your appointment. Most health care facilities are following recommended procedures of documenting health screening measures, such as the body temperatures of clinic visitors, prior to each visit.
- Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds on entering the facility. (It is a good idea to also carry hand sanitizer when going on an outing for health care or to access any other community service as a secondary measure in case soap and water are unavailable.)
- Practice good etiquette with regard to coughing or sneezing. Cover your mouth with your elbow or with a tissue. Immediately dispose of used tissue and wash your hands after coughing or sneezing.
- Maintain 6 feet of physical distance between yourself and others as you enter and exit a facility or when in a lobby or waiting area. A 6-foot distance is approximately equal to the length of a sofa or of a dining room table. You can imagine keeping a “buffer zone” of about this size around you as you move about. Check out this post from CNN Health for some other creative ways to estimate 6-foot spacing.
- As you are examined and/or treated by a health care practitioner during situations that require close contact, maintain mask use as well as good coughing / sneezing etiquette. Realize that health care providers are accustomed to and well-practiced at measures that prevent the transmission of illness. Your provider will have prepared for your interaction with hand washing and equipment sanitizing procedures prior to approaching you, and will repeat these procedures again after your encounter. Your provider will also be using a mask. Depending on the situation, providers may also wear other “PPE” (personal protective equipment) such as gowns or gloves or head or face coverings.
- Whenever possible during the non-contact portions of your appointment, continue to maintain physical distancing measures. If you are receiving home care instructions or participating in other activities during your appointment, continue to function with a 6-foot “bubble” between you and others. It is likely that your health care provider will have modified the treatment environment in various ways to make this fairly simple – such as spacing chairs or equipment appropriately, or adjusting clinic schedules to limit the number of persons likely to be present in any one room or area.
- At the end of your appointment, repeat a hand washing sequence of at least 20 seconds. As you conclude your interactions with your health care provider, this practice will ensure that you leave the clinic with clean skin. Don’t forget to wash your hands again later after removing your mask or facial covering. The mask should also be washed after use. This link describes further CDC recommendations regarding the use of cloth masks.
If you have any questions about how you or your health care practitioners will be working together, feel free to inquire. It is not unusual to feel uncertain as new procedures and habits are being learned. Know that by communicating and collaborating, it will soon become easier to safely and efficiently navigate within the health care system and the community as a whole.