WE WANT TO KEEP YOU SAFE...
All of us here sincerely hope that you, your family and friends are all healthy during these stressful times.
Our office is open during this time of Covid-19 outbreak, BUT we are taking extra precautions to keep our patients and staff safe.
• When you come into the office, we are going to ask you to wash your hands. (please don't be offended, we are following CDC guidelines)
• When we hand you the clipboard and pen, please know that the
clipboard has been thoroughly sanitized and the pen is yours to keep.
• There will be no more magazines in the office for the time being. (this will cut down on multiple hands touching and spreading germs.)
• We will have a bottle of sanitizer and wipes at the front desk. If you should need one, please help yourself.
• When scheduling exams, we space out patients as much as possible to minimize the number of people in the office at one time.
• We ask that you come to your exam by yourself, or at least minimize the
number of guests.
We are doing what we can to look after your health and your vision, and as always, we appreciate you being our patient.
Best wishes for good health, Dr. Kimberly Avis and Staff
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Symptoms
• Mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing
• Symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days
Transmission
• Spreads person to person through small droplets from nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
• Can catch the virus by touching objects and surfaces that droplets have landed on and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
Steps to take to minimize risk
• Wash hand with soap & water for at least 20 seconds
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people that are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw away the tissue in trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
• Ensure employees have ample facilities to wash their hands.
PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY
Covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze with your elbow or a tissue will greatly reduce the number of germs that are able to spread to people and objects around you.
Even if your illness doesn't seem very bad to you, it could be much more serious for someone who catches your germs.
SOCIAL DISTANCING
What Is Social Distancing?
Social distancing is a way to keep people from interacting closely or frequently enough to spread an infectious disease.
Here in the office we're asking you to not sit next to each other to observe Social Distancing.
Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations, please be respectful of others boundaries. |
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Contact lenses
can be worn safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is evident that contact lens wear remains a highly effective form of vision correction for millions
of people worldwide and, for many, the only viable path to functional vision. Certainly, it is
understandable that individuals who depend on their contact lens correction to function visually in
their everyday life are concerned about whether contact lenses should be worn during this time.
However, there is no scientific evidence at this time indicating that wearing contact lenses increases
the risk of contracting COVID-19.
The virus is primarily transmitted by being in close proximity to an affected individual who coughs or
sneezes and inhaling the resulting droplets. As such, the importance of social distancing cannot be
sufficiently emphasized.
The predominant ocular finding, occurring in between 3 - 30% of infected individuals, is
conjunctivitis (i.e., "pink eye"). However, studies have found that there is very little evidence that
COVID-19 is present in the tears, which indicates that while touching the eyes can represent a
possible factor in transmission, but it is a fairly weak factor of transmission.
There are, however, several factors that are important in minimizing the risk of COVID-19
transmission while wearing contact lenses which have been recommended by numerous
sources.
These include the following:
1. The Importance of Proper Hand Washing.
Touching the eyes can represent a factor involved
in COVID-19 transmission only if the hands were not washed thoroughly prior to handling the
lenses. Prior to the current pandemic, it has been reported that poor hand hygiene is a risk factor
in developing sight-threatening conditions such as microbial keratitis (i.e., "corneal ulcer") and
corneal inflammatory events in contact lens wearers.7 Therefore, eye care professionals have
always emphasized that the hands should be washed thoroughly with soap and water for, at
minimum, 20 seconds, and dried with an unused paper towel.
2. Proper Contact Lens Care
Individuals wearing daily disposable lenses should discard their
lenses after every use. Lenses that are worn on a two-week, monthly, or longer replacement
schedule should be cleaned and disinfected as recommended by the prescribing eye care
professional. Likewise, for individuals not disposing of their lenses daily, care solution bottles and
storage cases should be discarded, at minimum, every month and good case hygiene should be
performed. This includes emptying out old solution nightly, never topping off old solution with
fresh solution, as well as cleaning and wiping the case dry every day.
3. Discontinue Contact Lens Wear if Ill
As is consistent with other types of illness, anyone who
feels ill with cold or flu-like symptoms should discontinue contact lens wear during this time
period.
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