Let’s be honest, we’re in unknown territory. This virus is too new for us to truly understand how deadly it is and how easily it spreads. The little we do know is that this is a serious disease that must be treated with respect.
We know it is contagious. It seems to spread both by respiratory droplets (coughing) as well as direct contact. We don’t know if it spread via urine.
We know it causes fever, coughing, fatigue and breathing problems.
We know it is deadly. Death rates vary depending on how much testing a country did but seem to range between 1 and 3.4%. Optimistically the death rate is much lower but that assumes a much larger number of people are currently infected and simply don’t know it.
It seems to affect older and sicker patients worse than younger healthier patients. We don’t know why.
We also know that besides “supportive care”, there is no proven vaccine or treatment for the disease. Unfortunately vaccines typically take years to develop.
With that in mind, Pikes Peak Urology is working to ensure that both our staff and our patients are kept safe throughout this ordeal. We ask that anyone who has a cough or a fever cancel their appointment. We strongly encourage good hand washing. We are attempting to transition to telemedicine where appropriate. Our office will continue to be open though as we understand that there are certain urological issues that cannot be addressed over the phone and we would much prefer our patients to be able to be treated in our office instead of having to go to the emergency room.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding during these difficult times and I encourage everyone to reach out to us if you have any questions.