Alpha-Omega Medical Care

COVID-19

Telehealth services:

We offer telehealth visits, when appropriate, for those who would like them.

In-office services:

We are able to safely see all patients in our office. Patients who are ill should not come into the waiting room. Please call us from your car (508-753-7700, Option 3) when you arrive. We will direct you when and how to come inside.

So whether you are well or sick, we are open for business and look forward to seeing you.

Treatment Plan:

COVID-19 is winding down. Variant currently circulating is mild and the majority of people are recovering within 7 days and no longer requiring early intervention. Please review the treatment plan and shopping list for things you can do at home to feel better faster. If things are not improving within 5 days, or you have high risk (age more than 80, uncontrolled diabetes, or a BMI more than 40) please call the doctor right away.

Insurance information:

Telehealth visits will be billed as regular office visits. All insurance companies are now covering telehealth visits. Please check with your insurance company for details as to co-payments and other costs.

Testing Information:

We can now do rapid antigen testing for symptomatic patients in the office. We are not ordering any testing for asymptomatic patients. For anyone who has no symptoms and is seeking testing or is seeking testing for travel requirements, please check your local area testing locations.

Immunity testing is available.

• Testing exists for natural immunity called T-Detect.

• Antibody testing is also available via our laboratories, but parameters have not been set for defining immune titers. Here is the Quest Disclaimer on this subject...."Detection of IgG antibodies may indicate exposure to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). It usually takes at least 10 days after symptom onset for IgG to reach detectable levels. An IgG positive result may suggest an immune response to a primary infection with SARS-CoV-2, but the relationship between IgG positivity and immunity to SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been firmly established. Antibody tests have not been shown to definitively diagnose or exclude SARS-CoV-2 infection. Positive results could also be due to past or present infection with non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains, such as coronavirus HKU1, NL63, OC43, or 229E"... In other words a negative test doesn't rule out that you had it and a positive test isn't 100% certain that you had it and that you would be immune. T-Detect is better.

• Natural immunity from prior variants of COVID-19 is somewhat protective against Omicron, but still about 10 - 20% of people with previous infection can still come down with Omicron. For the time being, infection with Omicron is providing immunity to all other circulating variants.