How The Asthma Center Is Safely Providing Medical Care During Coronavirus

Updated April 12, 2020

The coronavirus has now been widely reported in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, so we’d like to update you with our in-office policies to ensure the safety of our staff and patients.

At The Asthma Center, we treat a variety of patients of all ages, some of which have diminished immune systems or pre-existing conditions putting such individuals at risk for more severe complications of coronavirus infection. Many of our patients require in-office care to maintain control of upper and lower respiratory problems and remain free of flares and compilations. By controlling your symtpoms, this can prevent urgent care, emergency room and hospital visits – this will reduce your chance of getting coronavirus.

To keep our office safe for all patients, if you have a fever, a new cough that does not mimic your asthma or COPD cough, if you think you might be infected or you have recently been exposed to a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, we ask that you not come to the office for your appointment. For such patients, please schedule a virtual telemedicine visit to “see” your doctor on video chat to review your symptoms and care plan. All you need is a smartphone or a computer with camera capabilities and physically be in New Jersey or Pennsylvania at the time of the virtual visit. Medicare and most commercial insurances are covering telemedicine at this time. To learn more about telemedicine at The Asthma Center, please read more here.

We are not testing for COVID-19 in our office but if your symptoms require testing, please call our office to direct you to the most appropriate method for evaluation. Currently there is no specific antiviral treatment or vaccine for this new virus.

Coronavirus Safety Precautions at The Asthma Center

At The Asthma Center, we take the safety of our patients and staff extremely seriously. We have put in place the following measures to ensure that our offices continue to be safe for patients and staff.

1. Please social distance; use protective masks when around others; wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, or with disinfectant solution with at least 60% alcohol, particularly after close contact with others and touching surfaces; avoid touching your face, specifically your mouth, nose and throat; disinfecti surfaces. For more information, please see CDC website.
2. The Asthma Center physicians, nurses, and non clinical staff remain home if they have a fever with acute respiratory symptoms or if they have had a significant exposure to a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus.
3. To enforce social distancing in our office, waiting times and the number of patients in our waiting room have been reduced by decreasing the number of patients seen at one time. You can also wait for your appointment in your car. Please call us when you are here.
4. If you receive biologic therapies (Xolair, Nucala, or Fasenra), you can wait in your car after your injection instead of staying in the waiting room.
5. Allergy shots are now scheduled by calling your office. Because there is a higher rate of allergic reactions from allergy shots compared to biologic infections, for safety reasons, we continue to ask that you remain in the office for 30 minutes after your allergy shots. By scheduling allergy shots, we can safely reduce the number of people in the waiting room at one time. 
6. Please limit the number of family members who join your appointment to at most one person. We can always call your family member during the appointment if you’d like.
7. Spacing of chairs in the waiting room has been increased to respect social distancing.
8. All exam room surfaces and equipment are disinfected after each patient encounter.
9. Common surfaces (countertops, phones, doorknobs, keyboards, respiratory equipment, exam tables, blood presure cuffs, etc.) are disinfected throughout the day and at the beginning and end of the day.
10. Physicians and nurses hand wash before and after each patient visit.
11. We ask each patient to wash or disinfect their hands before entering the office and after they enter the exam room or shot area.

If you have any questions, please call us at 215-569-1111.

For the most updated information on COVID-19, please see the CDC website here.