By Alexis Southward
Doctors are encouraging preventive and emergent medical care to become the norm again since its heavy decline starting at the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Due to Covid-19’s inconsistencies and medical professionals being unaware of when the danger of the pandemic will dwindle, patients are being told to stop avoiding preventive care visits.
Adults have held off on visits such as mammograms, colonoscopies, blood pressure tests, STD/STI screenings, etc.
Some adults have even avoided sending their children in for preventive care as well such as lead checks, vision and hearing screening, and childhood vaccines.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 41% of the United States have already avoided or delayed medical care during the pandemic due to the concerns of Covid-19 in June of 2020.
Patients have held off on making what they deem as unnecessary doctors’ visits due to their fear of catching and/or spreading the virus.
“I’m honestly scared to even bring my littlest one to the doctor if it is not 100% necessary. The exposure she would have makes me nervous. But it conflicts me because of course I know how important it is to visit the doctor regularly for my child. And for me, I haven’t even gotten my pap smear because it just doesn’t seem important during all of this,” said Jessica Nesmith, a Statesboro resident and mother of 2.
Since these patients are avoiding in-person visits, the world of telehealth medical visits and telemedicine overall has become the standard.
“Telehealth visits are a great way to assess problems without the panic followed by the pandemic. Some patients are extremely high risk, and we want safety all around. We can easily help them remotely, and if it is serious enough to come to an in-person visit, we will handle that when the time comes,” said Georgia Southern physician Angela Gerguis.
While many physicians agree that telehealth visits are greatly convenient and necessary during this time, some believe that it could be potentially dangerous or limited due to its lack of personalism. Some doctors believe that they are not able to fully assess certain problems without in-person visits.
“If I can’t feel or get a perfect view of a problem, it is difficult to make assessments and decipher what needs to be done for a patient which in turn leads to an in-person visit anyway,” Gerguis said.
Patients are also avoiding preventive and emergent medical visits due to their inability to afford care.
Since the pandemic hit, many people lost their jobs and have no access to affordable healthcare or are worried that coverage will not be available in the long run during the pandemic.
Unemployment has caused many to weigh food and/or other essential financial obligations before their own personal health.
“First, I was Just worried about whether doctors were following strict protocol, and then it hit me that it maybe is not in my budget. Is it feasible to be paying for small health procedures when food needs to be out on the table, and the lights need to stay on” said previous Savannah construction employee Desmond Merrick.
Doctors are implementing strict covid-19 pathways that follow safety protocols and eliminate risk of catching the virus in order to encourage patients to set up in person preventive visits.