COVID-19

What is COVID-19?

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the recently discovered coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease 2019. People infected with COVID-19 most commonly exhibit symptoms of fever, dry cough, runny nose, sneezing, body aches, sore throat, and shortness of breath. COVID-19 is transmitted when respiratory droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected individual are inhaled by a healthy individual or when surfaces or objects with droplets of the infected person are touched by a healthy person and the person then touches his/her eyes, nose, or mouth.

Safety Precautions for Patients and Staff during COVID-19

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, here are some important safety precautions that can help protect patients and staff during COVID-19.

In-Person Appointments and Procedures: Part of our standard protocol includes screening our patients on the phone first to determine if patients need an in-office visit or not. Every patient’s individual circumstances are evaluated by our provider to decide if the patient should come for an in-person visit or a scheduled procedure or if their care could be managed with video visits or e-visits. We have made special arrangements to ensure social distancing at our facility with designated markings on the floor to indicate where people should stand for check-in and check-out.

Restricting Visitors: In the midst of growing COVID-19 cases, our visitor policy has been updated to restrict the number of visitors in our facility to prevent the risk of exposure to infection between the patients, staff, and visitors.

Safety Procedures in the Facility: We have safety protocols in place to address safety concerns and accord the best protection to both patients and staff in our facility.

• Hand Sanitizer: Hand sanitizers are made available at every entrance and at several points throughout our facility. We have made it a necessity for anybody entering our facility to sanitize their hands as part of our safety standards. Additionally, every member of our healthcare providers and staff sanitize their hands before and after every patient encounter.
• Face Masks for Visitors and Patients: All visitors and patients are informed to wear a face mask or cloth face covering while at our health care facility. Face masks are made available at every entrance in case patients or visitors do not have one during their visit to our facility.
• Face Masks for Staff: All staff in our facility have clear instructions to wear face masks. The kind of mask that staff members are supposed to wear is determined by the kind of care they provide to the patients to ensure the safety of our staff and the safety of our patients.
• Enhanced Cleaning Procedures: The COVID-19 coronavirus can remain alive on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops for several hours to days. Rest assured we follow comprehensive cleaning procedures in our facility to keep our patients and staff safe. Our facility uses disinfectant products approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use against the coronavirus. We have also increased the frequency of cleaning to ensure our facility is safe for staff and patients.
• Screening Staff and Patients on Arrival: Our staff wear PPE or personal protective equipment while in the office in order to care for patients. In addition, we also screen our staff regularly for symptoms of COVID-19 such as fevers every day on arrival to work and follow a strict procedure with staff whose temperatures are found to be out of range. We also follow the same norm with our visitors and patients on entering our facility despite already screening them on the phone prior to scheduling their appointment with us.

Dr. Elbaz uses modern safety methods to provide a germ-free environment at the office and facility for the safety of our staff and patients and as a precaution against COVID-19. We follow all the above-mentioned safety standards and undertake frequent and repeated sterilization and cleaning of the facility to deliver the highest level of care to all our patients. It is mandatory for our staff to use face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and other personal protective equipment mandated for COVID-19 as part of our commitment to stringent safety protocols to ensure a safe environment for our patients at our facility. In addition, we also use advanced safety equipment such as HEPA filtration to provide a clean, safe, and healthy environment, acknowledging our patients’ health as a top priority. For all appointments and inquiries, please contact (631) 604 8260 (USA) or +972 52 643-2312 (Israel)