Dear CMG families,

We hope you are staying well.  As expected, cases in Travis County are continuing to grow in number.   We only have a few updates to share.

Telemedicine

We are doing mostly telemedicine visits to keep illness out of our office and keep you in your homes.  All major insurance companies are covering these visits. Anyone we need to further examine or test, we will see in the parking lot following a telemedicine visit.  We have a tent set up for this reason and our doctors will meet you outside. We are still seeing strep throat and flu along with the typical pediatric illnesses No walk in appointments please.  Please call the office at 512-451-5161 if you would like your child seen.

Social Distancing

The vast majority of cases have been due to direct contact with an infected person.  For this reason, we encourage all our families to continue to practice social distancing.  We are noticing children outside playing together in large groups in the park and around the neighborhood.  We strongly encourage families to avoid such contact amongst children. Continue to wash hands frequently and do your best not to touch your face when your hands have not been cleaned.  It is really hard to do! Please go on walks with your family and spend time outside when the weather is nice. Play is so important for growth and development. We are all getting out with our own children, but we are doing our best to be smart about the places we go and practicing good hand hygiene while we are out.  

Children and COVID-19

The disease continues to be very mild in children, especially those less than 14 years of age.  If it comes into your home, the likelihood is that the adults in the house will be sicker than the children.  It continues to present in children with mild flu-like symptoms. As of today, there are still no confirmed cases at Dell Children’s Hospital.

Well Child / Routine Visits

We are continuing to see our routine well child checks in the morning.  If your child is not due for routine vaccinations, we will call you to reschedule your appointment.  If you have an appointment already scheduled for the afternoon, our office will call to reschedule. We need to continue to make sure our patients are fully immunized and that their growth and development stay on track.  We want everyone to feel safe coming into the office. All our staff will be wearing masks, which may be worth talking to your children about before arrival. Please only bring one parent per child to decrease people in our office at one time.  All parents and children will have their temperatures checked on entering the building. You will be escorted directly to a room or asked to wait in your car until a room is available. We do not want anyone sitting in the waiting room.

Testing options are expanding.  Many more sites are available this week compared with last.  If you suspect your child may have COVD-19, we can discuss next steps and options for evaluation.  Treatments continue to be under investigation, but the studies are currently being performed in the adult population and focused on the very ill.  There continues to be a debate regarding use of ibuprofen with COVD-19 without great evidence to suggest it cannot be used. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend using tylenol or acetaminophen first for fever.   Ibuprofen could then be considered as a second line agent if needed.

Please feel free to contact us with any concerns or questions.  We hope you are all staying well and enjoying this time with your children.  There is always beauty in the midst of suffering. Your children are beautiful.  Try to hold on to their joy.

All our best,

Children’s Medical Group