COVID-19 Information
Focus Health Clinic is committed to providing safe access and care for all our patients. As we see people at all stages of health, we continue to implement COVID-19 precautions in alignment with Alberta Health Services guidelines.
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COVID-19 and vaccination status will be asked to determine how best to help you. You will not be denied service, although it may be different.
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If you have or develop the following, you must call us so we can modify your appointment:
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flu-like symptoms including fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, loss of smell
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Recent international travel
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Exposure to a known COVID-19 case within 10 days
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Waiting on a COVID-19 test result
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Not COVID vaccinated
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Patients age 3 and older must wear a mask.
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On arrival, call us before entry. This will help reduce foot traffic through the clinic.
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For the latest list of symptoms for adults, children, and everyone please refer to the AHS COVID-19 Symptoms website
AHS COVID-19 testing, call HealthLink @ 811 or: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/topics/Page17058.aspx
COVID as a Virus
COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV2, originates from the very large and common family of coronaviruses. These viruses are part of the many viruses that cause the common cold and some flu-like conditions. They are easily transmitted and infection occurs throughout our communities, worse in crowds and those less healthy. From time to time, a nastier mutation will occur leading to higher transmission, higher illness, or both. Such is the case with COVID. The combination of ease of transmission and high rates of severe illness (many times that of the standard seasonal flu), has lead to our disruptive pandemic. The virus only knows one mission: to keep propagating. As it continues to keep multiplying, it mutates, exploiting any change to be even more effective. The time proven method to stop such infections is to reduce the pool of victims. This means hygiene to kill the virus, distance/masking to block transmission, and vaccination to activate immunity against infection. We need all three strategies, and we need containment before the virus will mutate around our efforts. Vaccines have been produced expeditiously by streamlining investment and oversight, not ignoring safety; and that billions of doses have been given with extremely tiny side effects (100's to 1000's times less than the infection). For those worried still, consider that COVID infection treatments use an assortment of highly invasive procedures and medications with far higher side effects at a time when one's health is severely eroded by the infection. Those who have previously been infected, vaccination still applies. We should recall the famous story of Typhoid Mary...Mary Mallon was a house cook who was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid (fever, pain, spots, sometimes death), and went on to infect over a hundred people, 5 of whom died. Natural COVID infection may result in a highly variable immunity from weak to strong, whereas vaccines provide a much more consistent immunity. That's why we officially recommend post-COVID vaccination.
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Take care of yourselves, your family, and your communities. We are in this together, and we can only get out of this together.