Coronavirus

Should I go to the dentist during coronavirus?

By 5 days ago

Dental practices are adapting how they work in and around a patient’s mouth to account for this complicated reality. Dentists are screening patients for symptoms, limiting the number of appointments in a day, implementing stringent sanitation protocols and wearing more protective equipment to guard against the respiratory disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization suggest that respiratory droplets expelled when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks or breathes are the primary way the virus spreads. But the CDC reports there’s “no data available to assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during dental practice.”

The Washington Post has been fielding thousands of reader questions about life during the coronavirus pandemic and many have asked whether they should go to upcoming dentist appointments. Dentists and public-health experts are concerned that Americans are putting off routine cleanings, which could compound health issues in the months or years

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Is It Safe To Go Back To The Dentist Despite Surging Coronavirus Cases? : Shots

By 4 weeks ago

Dental offices have begun seeing patients return for routine procedures. Seattle dentist Kathleen Saturay has increased the layers of protective equipment she wears when treating patients.

Elaine Thompson/AP


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Elaine Thompson/AP

Dental offices have begun seeing patients return for routine procedures. Seattle dentist Kathleen Saturay has increased the layers of protective equipment she wears when treating patients.

Elaine Thompson/AP

Add dental visits to the list of services you can book now or shortly as cities, counties and states continue to modify their months-long stay-at-home orders aimed at reducing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Dental offices were largely shuttered across the United States after being advised in March by the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to close their practices to all but emergency care. Many closed entirely.

The hope was that by allowing dentists to continue to treat serious cases — such as

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Is It Safe To Go Back To The Dentist, Despite Surging Coronavirus Cases? : Shots

By 4 weeks ago

Dental offices have begun seeing patients return for routine procedures, and are working under updated CDC guidance regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Seattle dentist Kathleen Saturay has increased the layers of PPE she wears when treating patients, among other precautions.

Elaine Thompson/AP


hide caption

toggle caption

Elaine Thompson/AP

Dental offices have begun seeing patients return for routine procedures, and are working under updated CDC guidance regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Seattle dentist Kathleen Saturay has increased the layers of PPE she wears when treating patients, among other precautions.

Elaine Thompson/AP

Add dental visits to the list of services you can book now or shortly, as cities, counties and states continue to modify their months-long stay at home orders aimed at reducing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Dental offices were largely shuttered across the United States after being advised in March by the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

… Read More

Coronavirus rules for reopening California gyms coming soon

By 2 months ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said his administration will release guidelines “in a week or so” for allowing gyms, yoga studios and other fitness facilities to reopen, though stringent safeguards will need to be adopted to protect customers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newsom cautioned that the state directives will be tailored to the unique characteristics of each business, from large fitness chains to small studios, and will rely heavily on the advice of public health officials in each county.

The governor made the comments during an online roundtable with fitness professionals and business owners Wednesday morning, saying he hopes to allow them to be back in business as soon as possible.

“We also recognize your sector is multifaceted and we don’t want to be naive and just put out something that’s bland and that doesn’t meet your unique criteria and your unique considerations,” Newsom said.

The news comes as Dr.

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How coronavirus will change your dentist appointment

By 2 months ago

Surgical masks are replaced with N-95 respirators, the dental drill is silent, and waiting-room magazines are gone. Your next trip to the dentist may be much different from what you’re used to.

Four decades after the AIDS epidemic changed dentistry, requiring providers to wear gloves and goggles for the first time, the novel coronavirus is challenging the industry again to step up its sanitizing standards as patients begin to return for routine care amid a global pandemic.

“Dentists are really great at infection control and being prepared to create safety,” said California Dental Assn. President Richard Nagy, a periodontist in Santa Barbara. “That’s what we’re good at, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration deems dentistry “very high risk” for coronavirus transmission, there have been no COVID-19 clusters linked to dental settings or among dental healthcare professionals, according to the CDC. But in March as

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L.A. Surge Hospital for coronavirus patients to close in June

By 2 months ago

The state-funded Los Angeles Surge Hospital, which has seen relatively few patients since it opened five weeks ago to treat an anticipated overflow of COVID-19 cases, will close by June 30, officials said Wednesday.

In addition, emergency medical facilities that had been set up throughout the state will begin reducing operations, according to the California Health and Human Services Agency and Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The Los Angeles Surge Hospital, located on the grounds of the shuttered St. Vincent Medical Center near downtown Los Angeles, was set up to handle as many as 270 patients a day. But the hospital has never had more than 25 patients at a time, officials said.

When the coronavirus crisis began and officials feared hospitals would be overrun, the state signed a six-month, $16-million lease with Verity Health System, which owned St. Vincent and had declared bankruptcy.

The state also paid healthcare companies

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How dentists are handling the coronavirus.

By 3 months ago

Two dentist chairs, kept at a distance.

Photo illustration by Slate. Images via AlexLMX/iStock/Getty Images Plus.

This article is part of Reopenings, a series about how businesses are operating during the pandemic.

Fillings, extractions, and cleanings are no longer relics of the Before Times. Dental practices in more than half the United States are reopening for business. But as one of the professions most susceptible to an illness that mainly spreads from one breather to the next, dentists have to rethink many of their practices in order to function during the coronavirus pandemic. Book an appointment now and you’ll immediately see the difference—if you can get one. “We’ve delayed treatments, which could lead to an emergency, so there’s a huge backlog of patients who need to be seen,” said Richard Nagy, a periodontist in Santa Barbara and the president of the California Dental Association. “Protocols will be different. Patients will be asked questions that they’ve never

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Coronavirus in Pennsylvania

By 3 months ago

The Latest Guidance

Pennsylvania counties in the red phase are under a Stay at Home Order through June 4. Beginning at 12:01 a.m., Friday, May 15, 13 counties will move from red to yellow, including: Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland.

24 counties are currently in yellow and include: Bradford,
Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie,
Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour,
Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and
Warren.

Pennsylvania is utilizing a three-phase matrix to determine when
counties and/or regions are ready to begin easing some restrictions on
work, congregate settings, and social interactions. View Governor’s Wolf’s phased reopening plan for Pennsylvania. View the testing and contact tracing plans.
Stay home as much as possible. Try to get groceries once per week instead of daily. Freedom of travel remains, but please
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Coronavirus Claims Cause FDA To Go After 41 Bogus Homeopathy, Supplement And ‘Alternative’ Medicine Products

By 3 months ago

Journalist Chris Cuomo and his spouse were criticized after endorsing a variety of nonsense products recommended by their “naturopath” to treat his COVID-19 – claims that involved light energy, tinctures and a variety of useless placebos.

They are more common than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration either realizes or is willing to admit. Maybe they don’t worry more because President Clinton’s Dietary Supplement and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) tied their hands, and $35 billion a year in bogus products are allowed to bilk the public if they simply put a tiny disclaimer at the bottom noting FDA has not evaluated their cosmic claims. Wealthy elites like the Cuomos flock to these alternatives because their intellectual proclivities cause them to believe Science Is A Corporate Conspiracy and that nature used to cure everything until Big Pharma pushed that out of the way.

COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that

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Your Guide To Moving During The Coronavirus Pandemic

By 3 months ago

Most of the country is holed up at home right now because of the coronavirus pandemic, but some people are choosing to relocate. It might seem like a tricky prospect to move during a global health crisis, but there are some compelling reasons to do it now.

For one, many Americans now realize that their current financial situation won’t support their current rent or mortgage payments, especially if they have lost income because of the pandemic and lockdown. They may find it necessary to downsize or move to an area with a lower cost of living.

There are nonfinancial reasons, too. “As people are spending more and more time in their current homes, they are realizing they may not be living exactly where they want to be in the next chapter of their lives,” said Marisela Cotilla, executive director of sales for ALINA Residences in Boca Raton, Florida.

Of course,

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