Utah orders a restriction on medical procedures; many providers were already doing it

By Sydney Kidd

Many medical providers in Cache Valley were already setting limits on procedures to persevere equipment for the fight against coronavirus — even before an executive order aimed at protecting statewide stockpiles of gloves, masks and other supplies.   

Lizzie Loveland, who works as a dental assistant at Dr. Andrew Olson’s office in Providence, said restrictions had already been in place for a while before Gov. Gary Herbert’s Wednesday announcement. The result, she said, was a drastic reduction in the volume of patients her office has been seeing. 

Loveland normally works four days a week, from morning to evening. “And now I'm working for two or three hours, maybe, twice a week,” she said.

The transition has been hard, but Loveland said she knows it is important because of how likely COVID-19 is to spread in a dental office due to all the people coming in and out.

Logan Regional Hospital is another facility that was ahead of Herbert’s order. The hospital, along with all other Intermountain Healthcare branches, stopped doing elective and non-emergency surgeries on March 17.

According to Sarah Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the hospital, personal protective equipment, also known as PPE, is being preserved in case medical professionals have to deal with a surge of COVID-19 cases in the Cache Valley.

“Our community's been really supportive and understanding of the decision,” Fitzgerald said. “People understand the importance of personal protective equipment and what a huge asset that is to our caregivers that are caring for COVID-19 patients.”

According to Fitzgerald, the hospital has plenty of PPE right now and has also received many donation offers. However, only medical-grade PPE can be accepted by the hospital and hand-sewn items like masks must be turned down.

Fitzgerald said it is unclear how helpful hand-sewn masks actually are.

“Fabric material like that tends to not be quite as effective,” she said. “However, we don't think it's a bad idea to take an extra precaution if you want to give them to neighbors, friends or family members just to be safe. What it can do is actually be a really good reminder for people not to touch their face.”

Other medical facilities, like Utah State University’s Student Health Center, haven’t been as impacted by the order.

According to university spokesperson Amanda DeRito, since the Student Health Center doesn’t offer elective procedures like the ones outlined in Herbert’s order, the office hasn’t had to deal with the effects as much. 

But DeRito did say that before students can access medical care they must call ahead to be screened for symptoms of a respiratory illness. The Student Health Center’s website asks students not to book appointments online. If students do have respiratory illness symptoms, DeRito said they can access care through telehealth. 

USU is not offering COVID-19 testing at this time.