Dear Patients,
Details around COVID-19 and its impact on the community continue to evolve. In keeping with our nearly 100-year legacy of providing excellent medical care to our patients using the most modern treatments available, we are adapting to new developments on an ongoing basis.
On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to allow hospitals and healthcare systems to resume delayed medical care for Californians – such as necessary, but not emergent, surgeries and key preventive care services, such as colonoscopies – which were deferred as the state’s healthcare delivery systems prepared for a surge of COVID-19 patients. The decision to allow necessary medical procedures was based on progress toward preparing California hospitals and healthcare systems for a surge in COVID-19 patients – one of the six critical indicators the governor unveiled last week as part of the state’s framework for gradually modifying California’s stay-at-home order. Sansum Clinic leadership is hard at work on the details of how we can resume medically necessary and time-sensitive elective surgeries in the most safe and effective manner possible. Once we establish plans and processes that ensure the health and safety of our patients and staff, we will begin to slowly re-open areas that have been put on hold, as medically appropriate.
This week Governor Newsom also noted an increased capacity for testing in California. Earlier in the month, there were only 2,000 tests being performed per day statewide, and we are now up to more than 14,000 per day in California. While Sansum Clinic and the community have been increasing testing locally, and there has been a lower rate of positive results in our testing over the last few weeks, which is encouraging, there is still an inadequate supply of testing materials to get us toward our goal of testing everyone who needs or wants to be tested. Our car-based COVID-19 testing facility remains one of the largest in the county and we anticipate that our ability to test more people will continue to increase.
We know everyone is eager to know more about the reliability and availability of antibody testing. There are more than 100 antibody tests in development around the US, only four of which have been FDA approved with emergency use authorization. The dozens of tests all look for different types of antibodies in different ways, and there is not yet agreement on how to measure a person’s functional immunity to coronavirus. It appears there is a long way to go before we have any clarity on this, but it is our hope to offer such testing if and when a reliable option is available.
It is important to note that some large-scale testing has already been done in select locations. Two studies in California, one in the Bay Area and one in Los Angeles, showed that the number of people who have been exposed to be fewer than 5% of the population. There is a study from New York, which, not surprisingly, showed a rate of closer to 15% of people being exposed. Everyone wants to know if he or she is one of those who has already been exposed. Because we know already that the rate is low in California and because we don’t yet know what level of antibodies are protective (or if they are protective) it may be good to wait to get tested until at least more is known about the reliability and significance of the result, as the statistical likelihood that the cold you had in January was COVID-19 is low. In other words, being an early adopter of a test with a low chance of being positive and being hard to interpret may not be the best path, as opposed to waiting until more is known. For instance, we are not sure right now what the likelihood is of falsely measuring an antibody to some common coronavirus and mistaking it for this novel new coronavirus, resulting in a false positive, and false sense of security. Recall, there have always been common-cold coronaviruses circulating and, again, we don’t know yet how good these tests are in terms of differentiating antibodies to one of those from the new SARS CoV-2 virus, the one we are all worried about. We don’t know what the likelihood of a false negative is either. Finally, we don’t yet know what level of antibody is protective, so even a “positive” result will leave questions that as yet do not have answers. So we suggest waiting a few more weeks until we may have both better knowledge (we hope) and a better test to offer that is well understood and may give a more useful answer to a question for which, we know, people want an answer.
Our first concern will always be the health and safety of our patients and our staff. We continue to enforce precautions including symptom checking at all entrances, use of masks, limiting all visitors, providing staff members with appropriate personal protective equipment, closing some department and pharmacy waiting rooms, and abiding by social distancing guidelines.
Please note, for your protection and the protection of those around you, we are now requiring everyone to wear a mask upon entering any of our clinic facilities. Please make sure to wear a cloth mask (preferably) or other mask when coming in for an appointment.
A number of people have asked how they can help, and in response we have established the Pandemic Relief Fund. Those funds will be used to purchase much-needed personal protective equipment and to help cover expenses related to our testing site and ongoing expenses related to this pandemic. Click here to make a tax-deductible gift, and please reference Pandemic Relief Fund in the field that says “Other”.
We are incredibly proud of how our people have risen to the occasion under tough circumstances to continue to serve patients and we appreciate the outpouring of generosity and support from within and even outside of our community. We are grateful that the vision of our organization has enabled us to remain on the forefront of evolving situations and technologies in order to keep the best interest of our patients at the center of all we do.
Stay safe. We are here for you.
Sincerely,
Kurt N. Ransohoff, MD
CEO and Chief Medical Officer
Pictured below: Rogelio Lopez, RN Specialist, talking to patients in Sansum Clinic’s car-based COVID-19 testing line
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