To our patients in the North End, Charlestown, and beyond:
We at North End Waterfront Health realize there is a great deal of concern around the issue of the coronavirus, with increasing community cases around the country. As this fluid situation unfolds, we want to reassure you that we are following all safety precautions that are being developed at Mass General to deliver our usual care, while keeping patients and staff safe. Patients should feel safe to come to the health center for appointments in all departments.
- If you are sick, stay home and call us. We will talk with you about your symptoms and help you make a plan for getting care that is right for you.
- We remain open and accepting new patients.
- A good website for up-to-date guidance on the coronavirus issue is: mass.gov/2019coronavirus.
- MGH Coronavirus Hotline is available for questions 8am to 8pm at (617) 724-7000.
- As of now, there is no community testing for this virus – the testing you are seeing on TV is being done via the Dept. of Public Health for case contacts.
Whereas the Biogen Coronavirus vector broke out at the Marriott Long Wharf AND all three Eliot School buildings are closed due to coronavirus, AND the North End has a significant elderly/vulnerable population, it makes No Sense to me that the NorthEnd/Waterfront Health Center is not actively and proactively testing for coronavirus. I am incredibly disapponted by this “Memo on Coronavirus from the NorthEnd/Waterfront Health Center.
I have a call in to Aaron Michelwitz. Is Biogen working on Coronavirus testing, and making it available in Massachusetts? It seem only reasonable to expect this private company to work to clean up the mess they made in our neighborhood.
Roche is in the expedited manufacture of a test kit that can produce results in 24 hrs. Giliard Life Sciences is in 3rd stage trials of a vaccine. There is no known tests that can say whether someone has already had it. Some people who have had it, have mild symptoms and mistook it for a bad cold.
No Biogen is not working on testing. They are not a diagnostic company. The only place authorized to do testing is the State Public Health lab. I doubt that newhealth has the laboratory, the equipment, or the skilled scientific personnel to do the test. As of now unless you meet specific criteria you won’t get tested. Living in the North End is not part of the criteria. Chill out.
Know the facts. Biogen did not cause the virus. US has 8 test kits. President said ‘no’ to Germany who offered to send kits. The administration was in denial and we are paying for it.
Most area hospitals have test kits and have set aside special areas for testing. They are asking that people to call ahead, rather than just walk-in so as not to infect staff and other patients. I have a friend whose wife is a nurse at an ER and people have just walked in wanting to be tested. He’s pretty concerned about his wife.
Also, the decision not to accept foreign test kits was a CDC decision. From what I heard they were in formed the kits were unreliable. They have since changed, but are finding that the test kits are not very unreliable.
Source please. I work in biotechnology and this not what I read.
First I was listening to Bloomberg earlier in the week. Second was an article in Marketwatch today. New test kits by Roche was again, Bloomberg this morning. The Giliard story was in Barrons two weeks ago.
Our present testing consists of a nose and throat swab, which is then sent to CDC for results. I just read that Ma, the richest Chinese man who founded Alibaba, is sending us test kits and thousands of masks, so we may be on our way to normal testing procedures.