Frequently Asked Questions About COVID-19

Be assured that we have stringent infection-prevention protocols and systems in place — including universal masking, health screening protocols and physical distancing practices. Learn more:

• Extra safeguards in our clinic to protect you and our caregivers
• Updated patient screening
• Frequently updated information about Covid-19 from the CDC

• If you have COVID-19 symptoms — such as fever, new cough, new shortness of breath or a recent loss of taste or smell — or if you think you might have COVID-19: Please self-check by clicking here to diagnose your symptoms before coming to any of our hospitals or clinics. There will be questions to evaluate your potential risk for COVID-19 infection and identify the best course of action, including whether you should get tested. Do NOT walk in without an appointment or use online appointment scheduling.
• If you’re an older patient (ages 65 and above), have underlying medical conditions or are immunocompromised: Please contact your doctor early in the course of even mild illness.
• If you have severe symptoms, such as difficulty in breathing: Seek care immediately.

Click here for a map of COVID-19 Testing and Screening locations in New Mexico. Then after 24 hours you can visit the New Mexico Department of Health for the status of your test at cvresults.nmhealth.org.

• If you are tested at a NM Travel Health location, a health care professional will call you with your test results, usually within 24 hours.
• If you test positive for COVID-19 and have mild to moderate symptoms, you will get video visits or telephone consultations with an infectious disease specialists. These providers will monitor your health and refer you to other specialists you may need. Hospitalization is usually not required unless you develop severe symptoms.
• While waiting for your results, you should avoid contact with those sharing your residence. Stay in your room alone and wear a mask if you enter common areas. Practice hand hygiene before leaving your room.
• If you were tested before a medical procedure or surgery and were negative for COVID-19, it is still advisable to minimize contact with others so you don’t contract COVID-19 while recuperating.

Our clinic has a strict infection-prevention protocols and systems in place to keep patients, visitors and health care workers safe at all times, including during an outbreak of a disease. You should feel confident in accessing our services for essential medical appointments and procedures. We are conducting health screening for everyone at the entrances of our clinic. We also have taken other steps to protect your safety and provide care for you and the community. In addition, keep the following in mind:

If you have a life-threatening injury or severe illness, please go to an Emergency Department or call 911. Don't delay getting emergency care. Our ER locations in Bernalillo County are open 24 hours every day.

Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent the novel coronavirus infection. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to this virus.

To protect everyone's health and well-being, we encourage you to stay at home, except for essential needs.

If you go out for an essential need, such as grocery shopping or a vital doctor’s appointment:

• Practice social distancing.
• Wear a face covering — a bandana, scarf or homemade mask .
• Avoid crowded places and close contact with sick people.

You should also:

• Try not to touch your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water (for 20 seconds) or hand sanitizer.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces — like keyboards, phones, remote controls and door handles — and thoroughly wash utensils and glasses.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze — or use the crook of your arm — and throw the tissue in the trash. Then wash your hands with soap and water.
• Get a flu shot.
• Don’t travel to places with widespread or sustained community transmission of the coronavirus. Reliable information can be found on the CDC’s travel advisory pages .
• Practice healthy habits to boost your immunity: Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, protect your mental health, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food.

As businesses reopen, masks are critical in slowing the spread of the virus. New Mexico Governor Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham requires everyone to wear a face covering in public. it’s crucial we wear masks to protect ourselves and others .

The CDC recommends that anyone who leaves their home for any purpose should wear a facial covering — such as a bandana, scarf or homemade mask — while maintaining social distancing.

New Mexico Department of Health officials have mandated that people in essential industries, such as grocery stores and gas stations, who interact with the public wear facial coverings. They also require the public to wear face coverings when they're within 6 feet of other people.

The guidelines are different for health care professionals working in the health care setting. People working in a clinical setting should wear a medical-grade mask

• CDC's instructions on DIY cloth face coverings and how to wear and clean homemade masks.

You can remove the virus from surfaces or break it apart with:

• Soap and water
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing at least 60 percent alcohol
• Bleach solutions and bleach-based cleaners
• Hydrogen peroxide and hydrogen-peroxide-based cleaners
• Quaternary ammonium compounds (quats), commonly found in disinfectant wipes and sprays

A recent study by the National Institutes of Health found that the coronavirus survives on a variety of different surfaces , including:

• In aerosols, for up to 3 hours
• On copper, for up to 4 hours
• On cardboard, for up to 24 hours
• On stainless steel and plastic, for up to 3 days

COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause respiratory illnesses, like the common cold and pneumonia. Learn more about coronaviruses .

Most people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have mild to moderate cold and flu-like symptoms, including:

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Recent loss of taste or smell

Some people, often those with other medical complications, may develop more severe respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia. Other people could be asymptomatic. This means they are infected with the novel coronavirus, but have no symptoms. Asymptomatic people can still transmit the disease.

The respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 typically appear an average of 5-6 days after exposure to the virus, but may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure, according to the CDC.

Based on what is currently known, SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, spreads like other respiratory viruses, mainly via respiratory droplets that travel up to 6 feet in the air after an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can be inhaled by people who are nearby or be moved to the eyes, nose or mouth by contaminated hands.

Close contact with an infectious person — such as shaking hands — or touching a doorknob, tabletop or other surfaces touched by an infectious person, and then touching your nose, eyes or mouth can also transmit the virus.

It is currently uncertain whether the novel coronavirus can be spread via infectious aerosols. It is also unknown how long the air inside a room occupied by a person with COVID-19 remains potentially infectious.

Most people with mild symptoms and no underlying health conditions can recover at home, as they would with the flu or a cold. Others may need hospitalization for supportive care to help relieve symptoms and prevent potentially serious complications, such as respiratory failure.

In early May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency authorization to use remdesivir to treat severe cases of COVID-19, making it the first drug with FDA approval for treating the novel coronavirus.

We don’t know yet. It is important that everyone does their best to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus.