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Dear Patients of Signature Healthcare:
As information about COVID-19 in the US is prevalent in the news outlets, we wanted to provide you with the following update:
- For most people, a coronavirus infection will be without symptoms at all or similar to any other respiratory infection. Keep in mind that the overall mortality rate is very low so widespread panic is not warranted.
- If you develop sinus congestion, sore throat or a cough, treat your symptoms with over the counter cold remedies such as Sudafed, Dayquil, Nyquil, Mucinex DM, etc. If you have any questions about the next choice of OTC remedies for you, call the office.
- If you develop fever or shortness of breath, you should call our office to determine whether an office visit is warranted. In many cases, evaluation by phone will be adequate.
- To protect our staff and other patients, please inform us if you have cold symptoms prior to arrival so appropriate infection control methods can be employed during your visit.
- As of today, diagnostic testing for COVID-19 is not readily available in North Carolina. This is likely to change in the coming days to weeks and will be addressed in future updates.
- To avoid the spread of illness, you should stay home from work and social activities if you have “cold” symptoms.
- We ask our patients who have a current respiratory illness and/or travel to countries currently affected by the COVID-19 outbreak within the last 2 weeks to consider rescheduling any routine appointments to potentially limit the spread of illness in the community.
- A word about masks: Standard surgical masks do NOT protect healthy people from getting respiratory infections. They DO help limit the number of virus particles that are aerosolized by the coughs of infected people. Therefore, all patients with cold symptoms will be required to wear a mask while in our office. Stocking up on masks by the general public is not recommended.
Sincerely,
The Physicians & Staff at Signature Healthcare