The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a startling trend that is leaving the medical community concerned about future overall health consequences in Hall County and the surrounding area.
According to information released last September by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, four in 10 U.S adults reported avoiding medical care because of COVID-related concerns. The and now, the medical community continues to urge patients to consider the worrisome consequences that can come with the avoidance of emergency or routine healthcare as COVID regulations are being lifted.
"We are still seeing patients delay their care, and that’s causing unnecessary complications,” said Mohak Davé, MD, Medical Director of Emergency Services at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC)."Regardless of how many COVID-19 patients are in the hospital, the Emergency Department is the best place to be if you’re experiencing anything that you think might be life-threatening. The worst thing you can do is stay home and hope it goes away.”
Even if emergency care is not needed, there is no reason to put off preventive check-ups or care for minor instances, medical professionals say; avoiding these appointments can lead to escalated consequences.
"I have recently been seeing patients who have put off preventative care for things like mammograms. Those types of things are essential to taking care of patients and those preventative measures that are put in place help us catch things before they get to a point of being bad”, said Danny Webb, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) with Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville.
Webb is encouraging his patients to get back into the office with their primary physicians for in-person appointments if they feel comfortable. He said the environment is more than safe.
“It’s imperative that patients understand that through being vaccinated and with good hand hygiene, as well as wearing masks, we are taking those hygiene precautions and making sure that we are cleaning the facilities well and the common areas where people are to make sure that they don’t contract anything” said Dr. Webb.
While CDC mask regulations have been lifted for the general vaccinated population, medical offices and facilities are still masking up and carrying out their COVID precautions. Webb said he feels as if masks might be a part of a "new normal" for medical facilities even as regulations are lifted, and in his estimation, that's a good thing for the community.
“I have seen less people sick with common colds, the flu and things like that,” said Webb. “Wearing masks has protected us from so many different things and I don’t think we really take into consideration that we spend a whole lot of time, even prior to the pandemic cleaning our hands, using hand sanitize and wiping carts down when we go into stores. But we don’t take into consideration the importance of personal space and the transmission of disease and things like that, so certainly it has made a difference in that as well.”
With children returning to normal school and recreational activities, there also are appointments parents need to make for their children.
“Certainly, those children need to keep their preventative appointments, and a lot of the kids are still wanting to play sports and they need to get their sports physicals and things like that,” said Webb. “More importantly, those children still need to stay on schedule to get their routine immunizations. A lot of emphasis has been placed on the COVID vaccine, but kids still need to be getting those routine childhood immunizations in order to return to school.”
If children do not receive these immunizations, there is concern that there could be a resurgence of preventable diseases.
“If you do not immunize your child, we could have recurrences of various diseases and that's why it's very important that we immunize our children to keep us, as well as our children, protected from those things,” said Webb.
