Health Alert: Coronavirus Information

ATTENTION PATIENTS AND VISITORS

Please read through the Covid screening questions below prior to your appointment.

Please call (203) 830-4700 to notify our office prior to your appointment if you answer yes to any of the following:

1. Have you had a fever over 100.5 degrees F in the last week?
2. In the past 10 days, have you developed a cough?
3. Have you experienced ANY of the following symptoms in the last 10 days?
   • Shortness of breath?
   • Loss of smell/taste?
4. Have you had any close contact with somebody with a known Covid-19 infection without protection, including as a healthcare worker?
5. Have you been diagnosed with Covid-19 within the last 2 weeks OR are awaiting a Covid test result?
6. Have you been in any state or country (Other than NY, NJ and RI) for more than 24 hours in the last 2 weeks?
   • If Yes – Have you been in quarantine for 14 days or been tested negative either 72 hours before or any time since returning to CT?

Please promptly notify our office prior to your appointment if you’ve answered yes to any of the statements above.

Safety Precautions for Patients and Staff

At Advanced Specialty Care we have both been monitoring recommendations and proactively implementing protective measures for our patients and our staff. Below is an outline of measures we have deployed for your safety:

1. Masks / face coverings are required to be worn at all times by patients, visitors and staff. Face masks with an external valve are not permitted unless they are covered with a second non-valved face covering or mask.
2. All new appointment requests have been and will continue to be screened for symptoms and contacts. All who indicate fever or feverish feelings anytime in the last week or who have had a contact with a known infected patient are referred to our telehealth physician screening.
3. On arrival all patients and related visitors are checked for fever and again have symptoms and contacts questioned. Those who meet criteria are denied access to the office and attended to through our telehealth physician service.
4. We are screening patients and staff that have traveled outside of Connecticut and to any hotspots listed by CT governor, and must quarantine or show negative covid results. Anyone that fails the screening will be offered telehealth for an initial assessment. (Area defined as outlined by CT Gov. Lamont- see below*)
5. Only patients under the age of 18 may be accompanied by one parent/guardian. All other visitors must wait in their car.
6. A maximum of one (1) child under the age of 12 may accompany an adult patient to an office visit. One child per family, not per parent.
7. All visitors over the age of 2 who pass criteria are required to wear a mask upon entry to our office.
8. Universal precautions are firmly mandated in our office so all clinical staff and physicians when in the exam room with a patient will be wearing masks and have cleaned their hands prior to encountering the patients.
9. All exam rooms are cleaned thoroughly between patient visits with appropriate disinfectants as well as all the hard surfaces in our waiting room regularly.
10. All equipment used in patient care is carefully discarded or properly sterilized between uses.
11. Any employees who show any signs of respiratory illness and/or fever have been sent home with their return predicated on negative Coronavirus 19 testing confirmed.
12. We are deploying ‘social distancing’ in the office wherever we can for our staff and our patients.
13. We are refraining from shaking hands in order to prevent the spread of germs.

We continue to do all that we can to care for our patients and, perhaps more importantly, do our part in serving the needs of our local healthcare community. Anything we can do to relieve some of the burden on primary care offices as well as the hospital and emergency room helps everyone.

We appreciate your cooperation.

*Areas with high Covid-19 levels as outlined by CT Gov. Lamont:

Executive Order Regarding Travel: Pursuant to Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 7III, anyone traveling into Connecticut from a state that has a new daily positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average are directed to self-quarantine for a 14-day period.

As of December 1, 2020, the following locations meet the criteria and are included in Connecticut’s travel advisory. They are:

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Delaware
8. Florida
9. Georgia
10. Guam
11. Idaho
12. Illinois
13. Indiana
14. Iowa
15. Kansas
16. Kentucky
17. Louisiana
18. Maine
19. Maryland
20. Massachusetts
21. Michigan
22. Minnesota
23. Mississippi
24. Missouri
25. Montana
26. Nebraska
27. Nevada
28. New Hampshire
29. New Mexico
30. North Carolina
31. North Dakota
32. Ohio
33. Oklahoma
34. Oregon
35. Pennsylvania
36. Puerto Rico
37. South Carolina
38. South Dakota
39. Tennessee
40. Texas
41. Utah
42. Vermont
43. Virgin Islands
44. Virginia
45. Washington
46. West Virginia
47. Wisconsin
48. Wyoming

This list will continue to be updated on a weekly basis as the situation develops across the country.