Well But Worried

It's natural right now to be worried about your health and the health of your loved ones even if you're not experiencing symptoms. Continuing to take everyday precautions is essential.

Recommended Precautions

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Clean your hands often. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing or having been in a public place. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.
• To the extent possible, avoid touching high-touch surfaces in public places (elevator buttons, door handles, handrails, handshaking with people, etc.). Use a tissue or your sleeve to cover your hand or finger if you must touch something.
• Clean and disinfect your home to remove germs. Practice routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces (i.e., tables, doorknobs, light switches, handles, desks, toilets, faucets, sinks and cell phones).
• Avoid crowds, especially in poorly ventilated spaces. Your risk of exposure to respiratory viruses like COVID-19 may increase in crowded, closed-in settings with little air circulation if there are people in the crowd who are sick.

Being High-Risk

For those in high-risk categories: 

The illness seems to affect high-risk individuals particularly hard. People in those groups should start taking action now to limit activity around big groups of people. We recommend staying at home as often as possible to reduce the potential for exposure.  

In regard to COVID-19, people considered high risk include:

• Adults over the age of 60
• People who have serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes, lung disease and cancer

A chronic medical condition in this scenario would include any condition that lasts more than six months and limits daily activities or requires ongoing monitoring or treatment. These groups have been identified because of the significantly higher fatality rate associated with this illness. 

People who match these criteria should take enhanced precautions to get ready now for COVID-19. View more information from Springfield - Greene County Health Department.

Keeping You Safe

We're committed to keeping our high-risk patients safe. If you have upcoming appointments to get care and manage chronic medical conditions, know that we're taking the necessary precautions. Some of our safety measures include:

• Social distancing in our clinics
• Lowering patient and staff volumes as possible
• Universal masking of health care workers

Information for Parents

Children are not at higher risk for COVID-19

According to the CDC, current evidence doesn't indicate that children are at higher risk for COVID-19 than adults. While there have been children and infants who have gotten sick with COVID-19, adults make up most known cases. Children with COVID-19 experience similar symptoms as adults, although most children have had mild symptoms. Reported symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhea.  

Teach children to help prevent the spread

Your child can help stop the spread of COVID-19 by taking many of the same precautions everyone should take:

• Avoid contact with people who are sick
• Keep children home when they're sick
• Teach children to cover their coughs and sneezes with a tissue and to throw the tissue away
• Wash hands often
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects

Stress and mental health during an outbreak

The outbreak of COVID-19 is stressful for a lot of people, and this anxiety can affect children as well as adults. Children and teens pick up on cues from the adults around them, so it's important for parents and caregivers to deal with COVID-19 calmly. Some changes in your child that indicate stress or anxiety include:

• Excessive crying or irritability
• Regression toward childish behaviors they had outgrown
• Excessive worry or sadness
• Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits
• Difficulty with attention and concentration
• Avoidance of activities they used to enjoy
• Unexplained headaches or body pain
• Use of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs

Support and reassure your children by keeping them informed as relevant, answering their questions, limiting exposure to news coverage or social media focused on the outbreak and keeping up with routines as much as possible.