The best advice in a nutshell…
We’ve been getting many calls asking for information and guidance on what to do during the current coronavirus [COVID-19] outbreaks. We’ve assembled information from multiple resources and will update this as we know more. Feel free to share with your network as well!
As of today the health department has not told us to advise parents to keep their children at home instead of sending them to school. We are being asked to advise parents and patients to practice the following:
- Frequent handwashing [preferably for 20 seconds each time] and/or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol
- Try to avoid touching your face or mouth
- Try to avoid handshakes/close contact/hugging especially with people who are sick [Elbow taps instead of high fives, etc.]
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw that tissue away and wash your hands
- Try and maintain some distance between yourself and other adults [3 to 6 feet] obviously for little children this will be very difficult to enforce.
- If you are sick stay home, do not go to work/school
- Clean/disinfect objects and surfaces you touch frequently [phones, door handles, toys, etc.]
- Check with your school or local health department for any school closures/known exposures
- Wearing a mask is not recommended, and most masks will not stop COVID-19
- Call us if your child is having a fever > 102, respiratory symptoms and trouble breathing.
- Call us if you have a known exposure to COVID-19 [you will be notified by the CDC or your local health department if this is the case] or are at higher risk due to recent travel [China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Iran, Washington state].
Call our office at 650.216.7794 if you are concerned and we can help guide you to the right place to get the right testing and the right care. Please do not walk into the office as we may have to send you to another facility since we cannot test for COVID-19 in the office.
We recommend these resources for additional information:
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and children
- California Department of Public Health
- AAP Healthy Children
- Alameda County Health Department
- San Francisco County Health Department
- San Mateo County Health Department
- Santa Clara County Health Department