COVID-19

If you experience the symptoms listed below or if you have any concerns about having been exposed to COVID-19, please call us at 208.354.2383

CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) UPDATES

UPDATED Testing Times as 03/02/2021

Please refer to the following chart for our COVID-19 Testing Resources and Pathways or click HERE to view the document in a PDF format.

We will continue to update this page with the latest on the response to COVID-19.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID 19)

Teton Valley Health is taking the spread of COVID-19 very seriously. We are monitoring the situation, staying in touch with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and our local Public Health officials and updating our protocols accordingly.

COVID-19 spreads mainly through person-to-person close contact (approximately 6 feet), it is small droplets from coughing and sneezing which can enter the mouth and lungs of those nearby. It is possible infection can happen by touching a surface or object that has virus on it such as a table or doorknob and then touching your mouth, nose or eyes.

Symptoms include fever, cough and difficulty breathing. If you think you have been exposed to the virus and have respiratory symptoms, please call us at 208.354.2383 before coming into the doctor’s office or the emergency department. Our staff can give you instructions for seeking care, which you can do without exposing others.

It is important to know that 80% of COVID-19 cases are mild or without symptoms. But there currently is no anti-viral treatment for COVID-19. Most people who become infected will be able to care for themselves at home. Like the seasonal flu, COVID-19 infection is more severe in elderly patients and those with chronic underlying health conditions.

Man­ag­ing Your Health at Home:

The CDC rec­om­mends the fol­low­ing things you can do to man­age your health at home if you have pos­si­ble or con­firmed COVID-19:

  • Stay home from work, school, and away from oth­er pub­lic places. If you must go out, avoid using any kind of pub­lic trans­porta­tion, rideshar­ing, or taxis.
  • Mon­i­tor your symp­toms care­ful­ly. If your symp­toms get worse, call your health­care provider immediately.
  • Get rest and stay hydrated.
  • If you have a med­ical appoint­ment, call the health­care provider ahead of time and tell them that you have or may have COVID-19.
  • For med­ical emer­gen­cies, call 911 and noti­fy the dis­patch per­son­nel that you have or may have COVID-19.
  • Cov­er your cough and sneezes.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 sec­onds or clean your hands with an alco­hol-based hand san­i­tiz­er that con­tains at least 60% alcohol.
  • As much as pos­si­ble, stay in a spe­cif­ic room and away from oth­er peo­ple in your home. Also, you should use a sep­a­rate bath­room, if avail­able. If you need to be around oth­er peo­ple in or out­side of the home, wear a facemask.
  • Avoid shar­ing per­son­al items with oth­er peo­ple in your house­hold, like dish­es, tow­els and bedding.
  • Clean all sur­faces that are touched often, like coun­ters, table­tops and door­knobs. Use house­hold clean­ing sprays or wipes accord­ing to label instructions.
  • Avoid travel to high-risk countries or areas. We are discouraging non-essential travel to or through any of the countries for which the CDC has issued a level 2 or 3 travel health notice.

Please go to www​.cdc​.gov/​c​o​v​i​d​1​9​-​s​y​m​ptoms for infor­ma­tion on COVID-19 symptoms.

COVID Testing Protocol:

1. Anyone may be tested. A parent or guardian must authorize a child’s test.

2. All tests results are provided to the patient or guardian in 1 to 3 days.

3. We reserve our quickest resulting tests for those that are sickest.

4. Contact our COVID nurse (208-354-2383) Monday through Friday from 8 AM – 5 PM, to be scheduled. Patients must be scheduled in order to be tested. The COVID nurse will ask for basic information, symptoms, and verbal consent for the test; then the COVID nurse will provide a date, time, and instructions for the testing procedure.

5. We test at 10 AM and 3 PM on weekdays at the Hospital in Driggs using our ambulance bay for a drive thru. Tests can be performed at other times if there is an emergent need.

Pre­ven­tion Measures:

The CDC rec­om­mends stan­dard pre­ven­tion mea­sures like many res­pi­ra­to­ry dis­eases such as:

  • Avoid­ing close con­tact with those that are sick.
  • Wash­ing your hands.
  • Avoid touching your face.
  • Clean and dis­in­fect fre­quent­ly touched surfaces.
  • Cov­er your cough and sneezes with a tissue.
  • Stay home when you are sick.

The CDC advis­es that face masks should be used by indi­vid­u­als that are sick or show­ing symp­toms of COVID-19 to pre­vent fur­ther spread­ing the disease.

If you feel sick:

Use home quarantine or home isolation:

  • Stay home if you believe you have been exposed to the virus, even if you are not showing any symptoms.
  • If you have traveled to a country on the CDC list of level 2 or 3 travel health notices and feel ill, call your health care provider.
  • Stay home when you are sick, especially if you have respiratory illness symptoms. Whether you have seasonal flu, the common cold, or something else, it’s important you stay away from others when sick.
  • Monitor yourself for fever, coughing and shortness of breath.

Symptoms to monitor

 

What is Social Distancing, Isolation and Quarantine?

Restricted Visiting Hours:

Beginning Immediatley and in effect until the high risk of contagious Coronavirus (COVID-19) subsides, the following restrictions shall be in place at Teton Valley Health.

  • No Visitors younger than 18 years old.
  • All visitors are to stop at the Nurse’s Station before entering the patient hallway or room. You may be asked to wear a mask.
  • Only one (1) visitor per patient at one time.
  • No groups tours, scouts or other group visits.
  • Visitors are encouraged to wash their hands both before and after visiting our patients.

Anyone with flu-like symptoms- fever, chills, sore throat, body aches, headaches, etc are advised to remian at home and consider the welfare of our patients

Stay informed:

To access the most current information about this virus, please visit the following links:

If you have additional questions about our local collaborative approach to the COVID 19 virus, please send your questions to: info@tvhcare.org. We will be posting Q&A updates on our website at tvhcare.org as well as our Facebook and Instagram accounts. Q&A updates will be posted weekly.

Mask Donations:

We are overwhelmed by the outpour of support from our community, many individuals have volunteered to sew masks for us. We can’t thank you enough!

With a national shortage of PPE due to the coronavirus disease outbreak, community members can help protect patients and healthcare workers at Teton Valley Health by creating or donating personal protective equipment, like masks, so our front line hospital workers can keep fighting the spread of COVID-19.

You can help in a variety of ways:

1. Sewing standard surgical masks.
2. Sewing N95 cover masks.
3. Donating unused medical PPE
like masks, N95 masks, gloves, and
face shields.

Masks can be dropped of at Hospital’s north main entrance from 9am-4pm. If you have any questions please email info@tvhcare.org

Please click on the following two links to see samples of the masks we are in need of:

Updated 09/29/2020

Real-time information from the CDC:


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