WESTLAKE, Ohio (WJW) — A new check-in procedure is in place at the Ohio Clinic for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery in Westlake.
All non-essential procedures have been canceled with only post-operative appointments still underway, but everyone who enters the office is being checked for a fever.
“As everybody was arriving this morning we were checking everybody’s temperature at the door,” said Registered Nurse Karen Lawler. “It’s really important for us to do our part to help reduce the spread of this virus.”
On Wednesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recommended all employees have temperatures checked before entering the workplace in order to identify anyone who may be sick with coronavirus.
DeWine said if that’s not possible, that employees check their own temperatures at home before going to work. The state recommended that anyone with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher stay home.
“This is not just an idea but something that is very much recommended,” DeWine said, noting it will help stop the spread of the virus.
DeWine said the state understands that many stores are sold out of thermometers. The recommendation is not an order and is not being legally enforced.
Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, said some people might not feel very sick when they have low-grade fevers around 100 or 101 degrees.
She said while fever is not present in all cases of coronavirus, it’s a symptom in a majority of cases.
“If you’re having the chills and body aches, you certainly know you’re having a fever, even if you can’t measure it,” Edwards said. “But, really, there is no definitive way of knowing you have a fever other than taking your temperature with a thermometer.”
The State of Ohio is still asking businesses to let employee work from home, when possible. If not, a state spokesperson said businesses are expected to thoroughly sanitize, keep workers spaced at least six feet apart and to monitor for ill employees.
If that’s not being done, workers can contact their local board of health.
