The COVID-19 public health emergency and related restrictions are still in effect, and they affect medical clinics like ours. Please bear with us, because these requirements make it more difficult to deliver consistent and quality care. We are doing everything we can, however, to remain accessible and open for business during disease waves. During the public health emergency, we are able to offer telehealth services through most insurance plans to keep in-person risk low. We will alert our patients in advance if these circumstances change.
The Washington State mask mandate is still in place for medical settings. While we know that this is not true in other settings, clinics are held to a higher standard. It is likely that some of our doctors in Tacoma will continue to use masks during times of elevated disease spread in our community even after this mandate ends.
As required by state law, all of our doctors and employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Each of the doctors in the clinic worked in some capacity in the COVID-19 response, and are happy to answer questions about current guidance on how to keep risk minimal for you and your family.
To ensure that our staff are able to provide care continuity, we request that our patients do the following on their visit day:
- If you have symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, congestion, sore throat, or cough, we request that you contact the office and switch to telehealth services, or reschedule the appointment.
- If you were exposed to COVID-19 in the last five days, please request a telehealth visit or reschedule for a later date.
- If you were recently infected with COVID-19, please use telehealth or reschedule if you have had symptoms for fewer than five days. After day six, in person services are appropriate if you test negative.
- (optional, but recommended) Even if you do not have symptoms, please consider doing a rapid test the day of your appointment before coming in for your visit.
All of these steps will help us keep the risk for all of our patients as low as possible.
Please understand that medical clinics are at higher risk for spread of COVID-19 than many other settings. If we are notified of a possible exposure from one of our staff or patients that would affect you, we will alert you within one day by phone.
We are currently working to get certified as a vaccination site with the state and local oversight groups. This is a lengthy process, and we are still waiting for approval. We plan to have COVID-19 vaccines as soon as we can. In the meantime, we recommend our neighbors as Rankos’ Pharmacy for this and other vaccines.
We understand that the community has COVID-19 fatigue at this time, and that many of our patients are tired of the restrictions that this pandemic has brought. Thank you for understanding that our legal and professional obligations are high, and that we are making our best efforts to meet or exceed these obligations until this crisis is fully behind us.
At Link Community Clinic, we offer Point-of-Care testing (rapid antigen, resulted in 15 minutes) in-office. More resources for PCR testing to come soon at the link below!
Last updated: 28 September 2022