COVID-19 Information

12/29/21 We fully appreciate that our patients need to obtain testing for COVID-19 for your children who are having symptoms, who have been exposed to others with COVID-19 and who require testing to return to school. We are experiencing incredible numbers of requests while also seeing patients and managing our usual office schedule. We have very limited access to testing in our office and our supplies are allocated from the hospital which is in short supply. We are happy to order testing for your children through the hospital system but have so many requests that we will be bundling our orders to twice a day. If your child requires a test, please call the office and leave your message with the following information: your child's name and date of birth, the reason for the test (exposure, including the first and last date of exposure/symptoms/travel/return to school) We will input the test requests in the order in which they are received but will be doing this only twice a day as we need our clinical time to care for patients. Please understand that the testing centers are full and your test may be scheduled several days out and we have no control over the timing or location of your testing. We can only make a request for testing. 

If you or your child has symptoms and requires a test, please assume at this time that they are very likely to have COVID-19 and it would be prudent to behave as such until testing is completed. Please stay home and away from others for fever, cough, congestion, sore throat, runny nose, headaches, body aches, chills, unusual fatigue,  vomiting or diarrhea. Not only could any of these symptoms be COVID-19 but even if they are not, infecting others with viral illnesses would then require them to find testing as well and this is a burden to the healthcare system at this time. 

If your child's school requires return to school testing, please discuss with your school what their alternate plans are for children not able to secure testing this week. This will not be a unique situation unfortunately. 

If you have done a home test that is positive, and you or your child have symptoms or have been exposed, please consider this a positive test. No backup PCR testing is required. 

OFFICE VISITS: We have incredible numbers of patients who need to be seen and we expect this to be the case for the next several weeks. If your child has mild symptoms, please keep them home, plan for testing when it becomes available and monitor them closely. If your child is having any worrisome symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, signs of dehydration, overly irritable or overly lethargic, or other concerning symptoms, please call our office to plan a visit for your child. If they have minor symptoms and have fever that resolves in 3-4 days but are breathing comfortably, are hydrated and are acting reasonably well, especially when their temperature is down, then they can likely be monitored at home. If you are concerned about how your child is acting please call our office. If there are any acute concerns such as difficulty breathing or difficulty arousing your child or other more serious symptoms, please seek emergency care, call 911 if needed or call our office for an in-person visit. 

CDC updates on 12/28/21 suggested leaving isolation after 5 days, but on 12/29/21 they clarified that this does NOT apply to school settings for teachers or students as there is not a means to have children remain fully masked through the day due to eating and mask breaks. https://www.cdc.gov/coronaviru...

      IF YOU HAVE A POSITIVE TEST with ANY vaccine status:

                       -Isolate=Stay HOME for 5 days minimum if applicable to your situation, longer if still feeling sick or running a fever

                       -After 5 days you may leave your house IF you are feeling well, have no fever                                      (without any medication) AND YOU CONTINUE TO MASK PROPERLY WITH A WELL-                             FITTING MASK when around others for another 5 days. This does not include school settings as per 12/29 recommendations from CDC https://www.cdc.gov/coronaviru...

                       **If you are immunocompromised, please talk with your physician about possibly                                needing longer isolation

      IF YOU HAVE EXPOSURE TO COVID-19: 

               -If you are FULLY VACCINATED (which means you have had recent booster, completed your 2 dose Moderna or Pfizer within the last 6 months, or had J&J vaccine in the last 2 months or have a booster) AND YOU HAVE NO SYMPTOMS—meaning no cough, cold, sore throat, fever, feeling ill, THEN YOU MAY:

                         -Wear a mask around others at all times for the next 10 days

                         -Test on day 5 to determine if you are an asymptomatic carrier (see above if you                                 test positive) Home tests are considered acceptable at this time in most cases 

                           but please check with your employer or school to confirm that this is acceptable. 

               If you are NOT boosted or NOT fully vaccinated (less than 3 doses of Moderna or Pfizer or                  not boosted from J&J) then you must:

               -Quarantine at home for 5 days (10 days for students and school staff)  followed by 5 days of STRICT mask use (proper use,  proper fit, proper wearing at all times when with other people)

               -Test at day 5 post-exposure. Home tests performed properly are acceptable in many cases, please check with employers and schools to confirm what tests are acceptable to them. 

**TESTING**    Covid testing can be scheduled in several ways. You may call the Yale COVID Hotline 203 688-3355, or you may use the Yale portal covidtesting2.ynhhs.org and results would be available on MyChart. 

If your child is sick enough to warrant a visit in our office we have limited capacity to do testing in our office. However, we are trying to minimize office visits for children with very mild symptoms to avoid exposing other children and our staff.  You do not need to contact our office to schedule a test through a testing center but please forward test results to our office if they are done outside the Yale system. We cannot provide return to school notes without legitimate documentation of the test results. 

You are able to schedule testing for your family members in the above ways and also at some local pharmacies as well. Our office is able to order tests for your children but you must still contact the hotline or go on the Yale scheduling portal to schedule the test. **Our office has NO ability to create or adjust test times. Wait times for testing has been significant with the surge of Delta and Omicron variants**  

TRAVEL testing:   If you require testing for travel you will need to contact the testing center well ahead of time to ensure that your travel testing can be completed in the time frame needed. There are no guaranteed "turn-around" times for results but most often results are posted in 24-36 hours. Travel testing will NOT be done through our office. 

 HOLIDAY GATHERINGS: While we were all eagerly anticipating a less pandemic-filled holiday season, the delta and omicron variants are now widespread in CT and throughout the country. The unvaccinated remain at highest risk of hospitalization and serious illness and death. However, with many still not having obtained their booster doses and many young children are still not eligible for vaccine or are currently unvaccinated, the potential for widespread illness in the post-holiday season is quite high. Local hospitals are already near capacity and expect that the need for hospital beds may be quite challenging in the upcoming weeks. We strongly encourage vaccinating anyone who is eligible and not yet vaccinated,  boosting those eligible,  and to consider avoiding larger crowds and large indoor holiday gatherings. Testing those who will be attending your gatherings and encouraging vaccination before gathering can help to mitigate some of the effects we expect to see in the upcoming weeks. 

Flu and COVID-19 are both being spread rapidly at this time. Please consider masking, vaccinating and limiting exposures whenever able to do so. Spaces with good ventilation, open windows or outdoors are safer than indoor gatherings.  If you are not feeling well please do not participate in holiday gatherings and please get tested. Even very mild symptoms such as sore throat, headache, fatigue, muscle aches, congestion and runny nose can be early symptoms of COVID-19 and one can be quite able to spread virus to vulnerable individuals, even with minimal symptoms. 

 ***COVID and FLU VACCINE***

We strongly urge families to schedule a COVID vaccine for all children age 5 and up. There has been a significant increase in pediatric and adolescent cases over the last few months. We are also seeing a greater than average increase in the number of influenza cases this fall even compared to pre-pandemic flu seasons. Flu shots and COVID vaccinations are the best way to protect our children, our loved ones and our community especially during holiday gatherings. Flu shots are recommended age 6 months and over. COVID vaccine is recommended for age 5 and over. All adolescents age 16 and over are eligible for a COVID vaccine booster. The newer variants are causing breakthrough infections more often in those not yet boosted. If it has been 6 months since your child's second dose of vaccine, please consider getting a booster vaccine. Vaccines and boosters  are available at most chain pharmacies, some local pharmacies, most grocery store pharmacies, health departments,  hospital-based vaccine clinics and some school vaccine clinics.  Additional sites are available on covidvaccinefinder.ct.gov  as well.  The CT Department of health also has many clinics, some are walk-in available.

The COVID vaccine clinics were a big success here at CAHC. Several hundred 5-11 year old children were fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, we do not have further doses and it is not clear when we may be able to secure further doses. We will update you by email and on our website should more vaccine be available. Meanwhile please access the vaccine centers at the above website. 

FLU VACCINE IS STILL AVAILABLE AND STRONGLY ENCOURAGED ESPECIALLY BEFORE HOLIDAY TRAVEL AND GATHERINGS. We have no more flu clinics planned but individual families can contact our office to schedule vaccine if they are still needed. 

    WE WISH ALL OF OUR CAHC FRIENDS AND FAMILIES A HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!