Significant operational changes during the COVID-19 pandemic
by Carlos Rosende, MD and Bob Leverence, MD
 

An important video message about how our operations are shifting and improving as we continue to balance the need of caring for the sick while seeking to slow down the spread of coronavirus in our community.


Contact precautions to help prevent the spread of coronavirus
by Bob Leverence, MD, Chief Medical Officer
 

These five health-hygiene reminders are critical for the lives of our patients and the wellbeing of our staff and providers.


The current heightened concern over viral transmission brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled UT Health Physicians to remind all our health care workers of the great importance of contact precautions. Once coughing patients are masked, the next most common way the virus spreads is when an infected person touches a surface and then another person touches that same surface. For this reason we are issuing a set of health hygiene reminders to all UT Health providers and staff. 

 

These reminders are:

  1. No hand shaking – elbow bump instead
  2. Wash hands and/or use hand sanitizer often
    • Clean your high-touch worksurfaces often
    • Sanitizing wipes for phones and keyboards
    • Spray bottle sanitizer for other worksurfaces
  3. Wash scrubs daily
  4. No neckties
  5. No jewelry

 

In support of these efforts, UT Health Physicians is committed to:

 

  • Provide adequate supplies of hand sanitizer, hand soap, spray bottle sanitizer and sanitizing wipes.
  • Have housekeeping increase cleaning frequency of elevator and lobby.
  • Provide front desk plexiglass “sneeze guards”.

 

These actions are critical for the lives of our patients and the wellbeing of our staff and providers.

 

If you have concerns about any of these matters or if you have a good idea for keeping our workplaces even more clean and safe, please contact your supervisor.   

 

Thank you for all you do.

Commit to social distancing to save lives
 

Now that we have entered the phase of community transmission, the mandates to maintain social distancing are all the more critical. Jason Bowling, M.D., infectious diseases specialist, urges social distancing to protect health care resources and to save lives.


Your source for coronavirus updates at UT Health San Antonio
 

Read about new university measures and resources related to the coronavirus outbreak on this dedicated web page.