NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Children’s Clinic in Newport News conducts rapid tests for patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
Pediatrician Dr. Elizabeth Broderick said her clinic is seeing an increase in positive cases.
“We’ve had four positive [cases] in one week, and before that, we had three positive [cases] in two months. So for us, even though that’s tiny numbers compared to the United States, for our children’s clinic that is big. We’re a little concerned," said Broderick.
Broderick said they have one office for sick visiting patients only. Doctors keep other families separate in their building. If a child tests positive, they put more social distancing measures in place.
“That room gets shut down for 30 minutes and Lysol is everywhere. Nobody else goes inside that room. We have other rooms, so our next patient will go to a completely different room in a different hallway," said Broderick.
Some Hampton Roads schools are open and others are still virtual. Broderick said any child who has a positive test and doesn’t feel sick should be out of school for 10 days.
“A child who has a positive test but has a mild illness cough, cold, low-grade fever, kind of lost the sense of smell and taste but they don’t drop their oxygen, they don’t need to be in the hospital. They’re out for 14 days and they must be fever free for 24 hours without needing medication in order to have any kind of social contact again," said Broderick.
Broderick provided simple rules at school or in home to keep children safe:
“Wash your hands, wear your mask, watch your distance. Try to stay six feet away from people who aren’t in your immediate family," said Broderick.
Broderick could not specify the ages of the children who tested positive. She said the cases range from teenagers to children in elementary school.
The Virginia Department of Health provides a daily count of COVID-19 cases by locality, age groups, and ethnicity. The numbers change daily.
