FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky will start a partial lifting of restrictions on medical services next week, but health care workers and patients will have to follow safeguards as the fight against the coronavirus continues.
Starting Monday, non-urgent and emergent health care services will resume, Gov. Andy Beshear announced this week. That includes health care clinics and medical offices, physical therapy and chiropractic offices and optometrists. It applies to dental offices but with enhanced protections. Also covered are diagnostic, radiology and lab services.
It’s a cautious initial step in the process to gradually reopen the state’s virus-battered economy.
“In many ways this is our proof of concept - that if we create the right guidelines, if we enforce those guidelines and if we do it gradually - that we can do this safely,” Beshear said Thursday.
New safeguards being put in place in health care facilities will be the “new normal for the foreseeable future,” said Dr. Steven Stack, the state’s public health commissioner.
Traditional waiting rooms should be closed. Alternatives can include a “parking lot lobby,” where patients wait in their vehicles and get a text to come inside, Stack said.
Health care workers, patients and anyone else going inside a facility should be screened for COVID-19 symptoms, including having their temperature taken, he said. Social distancing guidelines should be followed and masks should be worn by all providers, staff and patients, Stack said.
Health care providers who are part of the initial reopening must be able to obtain the needed personal protective equipment, he said.
“This is intended to be a phased, gradual reopening so we can do it thoughtfully, safely and see the consequences of these actions - so we can take adjustment … actions if we need to,” Stack said.
And providers should still maximize use of telehealth, he said.
Last month, the governor ordered a halt to all elective medical procedures in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to increase hospital capacity.
A month later, there’s a reason the health care sector is at the forefront of efforts to ease Kentucky’s virus-related restrictions, Beshear said Thursday.
“It’s no mistake that we’re doing it in the health care area,” he said, “which ought to be the area that can respond the fastest to any issues that arise with the coronavirus, should be the most aware of the procedures - the PPE and the rest - and ought to give us a good look at what this is going to look like as we do it in other areas.”
Kentucky hospitals haven’t been immune to the economic damage caused by the coronavirus. Several hospitals have announced layoffs or furloughs in response to declines in patient care volumes and surgery revenue amid the public health crisis.
Elsewhere, Beshear is reaching out to local leaders and business groups, asking for their input in formulating plans to gradually jump-start the economy.
“It’s going to be gradual, it’s going to be phased,” he said. “Not everybody and everybody’s profession is going to be able to open up in the very short term. Doing it right is about saving lives and making sure that employees will be safe and people they serve will be safe.”
About 500,000 Kentucky residents - or about one-fourth of the state’s civilian workforce - filed for unemployment benefits in the past five weeks. Businesses spanning much of the state’s economy have shut their doors or scaled back in an effort to contain the virus.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in weeks. For some, it can cause life-threatening illness.
___
Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.