MEMPHIS, Tenn — A Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare doctor Tuesday outlined how the system's medical staff plans to treat both flu and COVID-19 patients in the months ahead.
Dr. Ben Bowman said staff is meeting regularly to stay on top of plans to handle flu and COVID patients and testing in the months ahead.
"We are cohorting patients with COVID symptoms and that's going to include patients with flu symptoms as they arrive," Dr. Bowman said. "We will do our best to separate those patients both in our waiting rooms and certainly isolate those patients and cohort them once they are admitted to the hospital as that need arises."
Dr. Bowman advises those with the following symptoms to seek care: shortness of breath, coughing to the point it's affecting your ability to breathe, chest pain, severe weakness, dehydration.
Those at Methodist said the time is now to get the flu vaccine.
"You want to get it as soon as possible, it can take weeks before you develop immunity, so you want to get it now so you are prepared when you see an increase in flu later this year," Dr. Bowman said.
For now, Dr. Bowman is hopeful the best practices already underway by many locally - such as mask wearing, hand hygiene, social distancing and covering coughs and sneezes will also limit the impact and spread of the flu later this fall and into the winter.
Such data is already playing out in the southern hemisphere.
"I am hopeful myself that we may not see as many flu cases this year because we are already doing a lot of things that we need to be to help reduce the spread of viral illnesses," Dr. Bowman said.
Dr. Bowman said as of Tuesday, things are heading in a positive direction locally with COVID-19 containment.
In the Methodist system, Dr. Bowman said there were 67 admitted COVID 19 patients in hospital system compared to 82 this time last week.
There were also 21 COVID-19 patients systemwide in the ICU Tuesday compared to 32 this time last week.
