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David Katzman, MD & Jennifer DeLaney, MD Internal Medicine Specialists |
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We are sorry to report that we have no further information regarding when we will receive our Pfizer vaccine shipment. Since we do not yet know when we will receive the vaccine, we strongly recommend that you register with a local hospital or by attending one of 27 statewide mass vaccination clinics. One of these clinics will be taking place in North County soon. We will update you as we learn more on how to register.
We are trying our best to get the COVID vaccine for you, but the state currently only has 15% of the needed vaccine for the current Phase 1B group. Hopefully, they will obtain more and distribute them quickly and efficiently. We will keep you posted in future newsletters.
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You should have received an email letter from us outlining our new electronic invoice system to replace our older snail-mail one. We have partnered with Bill.com, an industry leader in secure and efficient bank transfers, to implement this. Your invoices will now go directly to your email inbox allowing for simple payments via bank transfer and avoiding the hassles of check writing and uncertain postal deliveries.
Two important points:
- Please let us know if you would like your invoice emailed to a spouse or bookkeeper or someone else in your life who handles these issues.
- If you prefer to continue receiving invoices by mail instead of emailed ones, please let us know that as well.
Finally, you may still pay by check via the instructions on the invoice. |
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Although COVID-19 rates have fallen substantially in our region and throughout the United States, the number of infections are still in the "danger zone." In addition, three even more worrisome variants are making their way into this area and our country. These are felt to be 40-50% more contagious and possibly associated with more severe disease. The Brazilian and South African variants seem to be associated with decreased vaccine efficacy and increased likelihood for contracting COVID-19 again.
It remains as crucial as ever that you continue your safe behaviors of mask-wearing and social distancing, particularly if you are indoors with non-household contacts. Remember you should not eat with people you do not live with! |
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Given the persistence of COVID-19 in addition to the emerging more contagious variants, it is important to ensure that your mask is as effective as possible. There are two components that determine mask efficacy: fit and filtration. Surgical masks have good filtration but often fail due to gaps in the fit that allow 20-80% of air to circumvent filtrations. Studies have shown the following two methods can improve the functioning of a surgical mask to near N95 levels.
Double Masking: Wear a surgical mask against your face and a cloth mask over it. The addition of the cloth mask provides additional filtration and pulls the surgical mask more snugly around the face.
Surgical Mask With a Brace: A brace is a plastic frame placed on the outside of the mask to bring it closer to the face and diminish leaks which can increase filtration efficacy to over 80%. In other words, your risk of getting COVID indoors with one hour of exposure is less than 1%! You can make them yourself by checking out the instructions on the Badger Seal website. You can also purchase them on that site or on fixthemask.com
Look for surgical masks with an ASTM protection level of 2 or 3 such as Zubrex or Ambrust. |
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Stay tuned for another newsletter later this week with the dos and don'ts of COVID vaccination. |
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Please visit our website if you have missed any past newsletters. The newsletter archives can be found by hovering your mouse over the "Medical Links" tab. |
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