The spread of the omicron variant is already affecting the ability to provide medical care in North Texas Community Clinics.
Staff members of two Dallas clinics have been affected by covid-19, which has forced these care centers to change the way they take care of their patients. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 95% of coronavirus infections are due to the omicron variant.
At a West Dallas clinic, waiting times to be seen have increased. Another East Dallas clinic stopped receiving patient visits and only offers video or phone consultations.
The community clinic Los Barrios Unidos (LBU), at 809 Singleton Blvd. and which treats more than 500 patients each week, has a fifth of its staff sick with covid-19, which has forced them to make adjustments to their equipment.
Sharon Davis, medical director of LBU, indicated that they have had an increase in their demand for up to double the services, which combined with the lack of staff translates into a difficult time for the clinic, a reflection of what happens in other sectors.
“We have a lot more employees than we had before to serve the community, that’s for sure, and they are vaccinated and have received their booster, so they are doing well,” Davis said. “But now we have a spreadsheet with the dates when people are positive and when they might come back; but it seems that as soon as one comes back, the next one is sick ”.
Of the 150 workers at the clinic, around 30 have been infected with COVID-19 and were temporarily separated from their work to prevent further spread.
“Everybody is saying this feels like the early days (of the pandemic) as far as being in healthcare, but now we feel it more with this flood of patients and tests and there are not enough staff, so it’s very hard, ”Davis said. “The biggest problem is that there are so many (contagions) that when our people get sick, we can’t be here to take care of the community.”
This situation causes the wait times to get a consultation or take a test longer than normal. in the four LBU clinics. This network of clinics is run by a non-profit organization and the majority of its patients are residents of West Dallas, Oak Cliff, and Grand Prairie.
Read also: Hospitalizations in Dallas continue to rise and put medical personnel to the limit
The Agape clinic, at 4104 Junius St., which primarily serves Hispanics, stopped seeing patients in person following several members of its medical staff contracted Covid-19.
Paul Hoffmann, executive director of Ágape, indicated that two of the 12 members of the medical team were infected with covid-19, so they only provide care by phone or by video call to minimize the risk of contagion.
“On Monday I had two staff members who fell ill with covid-19, even when they were vaccinated with boosters; this is 20% of the team, ”said Hoffmann. “I was concerned regarding how communicable the disease is and felt responsibility for them and their families, so now we are only seeing patients by phone and virtually.”
Hoffmann acknowledged that this measure will impact the care of his patients, as many of them find it more difficult to trust their doctors when consultations are not in person.
“It is not ideal, but we understand that we have a commitment to the community that we cannot fulfill if we get sick, so hopefully we can reopen soon,” Hoffmann said.
The plan is for the clinic to reopen its services next week.
Weekly, the Agape clinic receives around 400 patients; over the past two weeks, the number of consultations has doubled.
Both health care centers have noticed that the omicron is affecting young people the most, whether they are teenagers or in their 20s.
Sharon Davis, from LBU, pointed out that the rate of positivity has reached up to 50% (that of 10 tests that are done, five are positive), which is the highest parameter in the pandemic so far; and most of the patients are young.
“We are seeing many, many twenty-somethings and, unfortunately, many of them have told us that they are tired of (the measures to avoid) covid-19,” Davis said. “Who met over the holidays, met at New Years parties, and maybe they didn’t take the time to get the booster vaccine or they are not vaccinated. That is the story we have heard the most ”.
Read also: Ómicron strikes more children under 5 years of age, who still cannot be vaccinated
Although the infection appears to be more benign with omicron, Davis said, it is still dangerous because more infections will lead to more hospitalizations and deaths.
Paul Hoffmann, from the Agape Clinic, said that although the disease with the omicron variant appears to be more benign, with less severe symptoms, it significantly affects people who have not been vaccinated or who have not received their booster.
“What we are seeing is younger patients, teenagers or in their 20s, who have been infected,” Hoffmann said. “It seems that there are far fewer young people who have been vaccinated.”
Of the patients they receive at the clinic, regarding 30% are not vaccinatedHoffmann commented.
“I think the idea spread that the disease affected older people more and that made younger people and those with teenagers trust themselves,” he said.
Either way, Hoffmann said, unvaccinated patients have more intense symptoms like a very bad cold, which are complicated in some cases and can end up in the hospital.
Therefore, one of the tasks in Agape has been convince your patients to get vaccinatedAlthough this sometimes means individual or family information sessions to explain and try to convince them to receive the covid-19 vaccine.
