Are you tired of hearing about it yet?
Frustrated because you feel that people are overreacting?
Perhaps angry because you don’t think that enough is being done?
A bit nervous and anxious about what this all means for you and your loved ones?
We here at Pediatric Associates understand that right now there are a flood of emotions that are being experienced by families here in Abilene and across the nation. Emotions that range from fear and anxiety to anger and frustration and everything in between. Have you made it through a day without hearing something new about the current outbreak any time in the last week? As we navigate this together, we want you to know that we are doing everything we can to stay on top of developments as they are happening and that we will do our best to keep you in the loop and prepared. So to start things off, we want to share some words of advice and clue you in on a few things you can expect to see over the coming days…
- DON’T PANIC. STAY CALM……..No, seriously. Stay calm. While we are seeing cases increase daily across our nation and here in Texas, we have yet to have any confirmed cases here in Taylor County. Even more encouraging for your little ones is that children across the globe are fairing quite well during this pandemic. China has now reported near 90,000 cases. Of these, only 2.4% were children and only 0.02% of these were critically ill with no fatalities under the age of 9 years.
- GET YOUR INFORMATION FROM REPUTABLE SOURCES. Yes, you likely found this post on Facebook. And don’t get us wrong. We LOVE your aunt Susan and her posts as much as you do. She is sweet and kind and she loves your child and means well, but her posts on Facebook about her friend whose friend’s kid has a friend that is being tested just lack a certain amount of reliability. Here are a few good places to start:
- Healthychildren.org – A great place for info on all things kids, including COVID-19
- CDC.gov – Can be a bit tedious to navigate through but is updated daily
- Abilenetx.gov/363/health – Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District site which is being updated consistently
- WATCH FOR CHANGES IN OUR OFFICE.
- You will start seeing some new signs with reminders for our families.
- Don’t be surprised if you are asked some different questions at check in or when you’re on the phone with our nurses who triage patients.
- Know that things are evolving rapidly and we’ll do our best to keep you informed as we move along
Finally, take a minute to talk to your kids about COVID-19. Remember, they are listening and they are picking up on all of the media coverage and dinner table conversations. Kids can get anxious about these kinds of things too so take time to chat with them about how they are feeling and address any questions they may have. Stress the importance of washing hands and covering coughs with them as well. Here is a good link to a cartoon that you can read through with your kids. Some of the number of cases info is behind as this was put out several days ago, but it’s a great starting point for helping to start a conversation or provide a little bit of calm for your kids.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus