TEMPLE, Texas — Express ER has six locations across Texas including two in Bell county and one in Mclennan County. Medical Director Daniel Akers told 6 News they have received hundreds of calls about the coronavirus and more than 50 people have come into their clinics. During this pandemic, Akers said they take all the safety precautions they can.
"We are concerned about public safety but we are also concerned about staff safety," Akers said. "We have daily meetings about the coronavirus. We are revising triage protocols, designating areas of the waiting room for coronavirus patients. We are masking and asking those patients to put on gloves when entering the facility."
Akers said the coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory droplets from one person to another and those droplets can have a range of two to four feet. The general public can protect themselves by staying six feet apart and regularly washing their hands. But, medical staff does not have that luxury. That's why they need N-95 masks.
"The healthcare worker has to start an IV and be closest to the patient that most likely has the disease. So the healthcare workers need for the N-95 mask is much higher than the need for the average person," Akers said. "The fact that we cannot get an abundance of N-95s because they are gone is unfortunate."
Akers said the general public can protect themselves by not touching the face, washing hands, and staying six feet apart with social distancing. At the same time, Akers said the staff has encountered multiple people that have coronavirus symptoms and at least two or three of those could test positive in the next few days. He hopes to have enough masks as he believes cases will increase.
Currently, coronavirus test kits are too limited to test all patients. Akers said they only have around 10 such tests per facility location. Fortunately, Akers said the clinics can use, "Low radiation dose" CT scans to find out if patients are developing the pneumonia symptoms consistent with coronavirus.
"It's more of a quicker study to look at the lungs and we get more information about the degree of pneumonia of present and how severe it is," Akers said. "When we look at the CT we can say, sometimes with 95 percent, plus certainty, that you have corona and we can tell you how bad it is."
Akers said Tuesday that he believes the coronavirus cannot be completely contained at this point but the public can limit the spread of the disease by taking safety precautions.
"Right now our goal is more minimization, trying to reduce the effect rather than contain the virus," Akers said.
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