Today, I am going to share news gleaned from meetings and publications that address the importance of preventive care, returning to daycare, pulse oximetry as a screening tool for COVID, and the Accordion Theory.
Every Thursday the Children’s Hospital of Colorado presents a panel of experts with updates and answers to questions.
“Your offices are the safest place in the country,” they proclaimed. With social distancing many parents and patients are delaying routine care which has led to the largest drop in vaccination rates in 50 years. This could result in outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, pneumococcal and other infections. With the loss of revenue, small clinics may go out of business, and large clinics and hospitals are laying off workers by the hundreds. If there is a large outbreak of preventable disease, on top of a resurgence of COVID, there could be a devastating shortage of providers to care for the victims. Now is the time to call your clinic and set up appointments for check ups and vaccines. If you don’t feel safe yet you can do a Telehealth visit initially and schedule the vaccines and hands-on portion of the exam in a month.
Another reason not to delay preventive care is the increase in stress, isolation, and anxiety which can cause serious depression. We had a tragic teen suicide in the county this month. Students from middle school through college should be seen annually for mental and physical health screening as well as vaccines. One mother told me that the depression screening done at our office “saved my daughter’s life.”
More daycares are opening soon. Parents are asking me whether to send their child back. These facilities follow strict public health guidelines to prevent infection. Children are not likely to be affected by COVID. Any child with symptoms should be tested. Enrollment should be diminished due to parents preferring to keep their child at home. However, if there is a high risk family member, I advise not to return to daycare yet.
School age children should be limited to playing with friends and family members who have been part of their social circle during the last two months. To borrow a slogan from the AIDS campaign, “KNOW YOUR NETWORK”. This is not the time to expand friendships. There will be no team sports this summer. Children should play outside and not share toys or balls.
An emergency physician in New York, Richard Levitan, published an editorial in the NY Times on April 20 advocating the use of pulse oximeters to screen for COVID. Citing the many patients with low oxygen levels and abnormal x-rays who did not complain of trouble breathing, the delay in obtaining results and inaccuracy of the COVID testing, he sees the simple pulse oximeter as a source of immediate information as to who needs medical attention. I’ve been speaking and writing about this for weeks.
Finally, one of the panelists at Children’s mentioned the accordion phenomenon. As we reduce social distancing restrictions and open commerce and travel, there will inevitably be more cases of COVID. It is likely that restrictions will be imposed again, and this may occur in cycles during the next year(s). We may be able to decrease future shutdowns by wearing masks and gloves when we go out, using hand sanitizer, soap and water, not touching our face, covering our coughs and sneezes, and limiting exposure to large groups of people. I hope all these will be permanent behavior changes except the masks and the large groups (I love the Lake Dillon Amphitheater and the BBQ challenge).
Take care, stay engaged, and have another safe week!
