Information About COVID-19

Coronaviruses are in the same virus family as the common cold, typically causing mild symptoms. The new strain of coronavirus, 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China. The symptoms are similar to the flu. Watch this video or see the CDC website for more information.

If you’re feeling sick and your symptoms aren’t improving, please send a message to your care team or consider a Sutter Video Visit. They’re available 8:00 am – 8:00 pm, seven days a week. Video Visits help you avoid exposure to colds and flu and prevent you from exposing others if you’re sick. Your provider may direct you to a testing site, the hospital or your county’s public health department.

You can also call our COVID-19 advice line at (866) 961-2889 to connect with a clinician who will direct you to the proper level of care. This is not a general advice line. The hours of operation are 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, seven days a week. You can also use our online symptom checker to check your symptoms.

Per CDC guidelines, we will collect test samples from patients with symptoms (fever or signs of lower respiratory illness—cough and shortness of breath) and key risk factors (older adults and people who have serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease). If you feel ill, please schedule a video visit or call our COVID-19 advice line at (866) 961-2889 to receive guidance on whether you need to go to a site to be further evaluated. Patients must present identification at the testing site to confirm their appointment.

If you’re concerned that you may have COVID-19, call your doctor or healthcare provider before going to your doctor’s office, a clinic, or the emergency room. However, if you are experiencing severe symptoms or if you think you have a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.

Many of us and our loved ones have runny noses, coughs and sneezes these days. Almost everyone with these symptoms will ultimately have the flu, a cold or even bad allergies. If you have specific questions, contact your clinician or care center.

Sutter is committed to the health and well-being of our patients, caregivers and community. In light of the COVID-19 public health emergency, we are taking extra precautions to reduce the risk of the spread of the disease, especially as we anticipate an increased volume of COVID-19 patients in the coming days.

During this time, it is critical that we protect vulnerable patients in our hospitals, as well as our healthcare workers and providers. Visitors may unwittingly pass the virus on to staff and patients, even when they aren’t showing symptoms of the illness. Therefore, we are restricting all visitors from our hospitals, effective immediately and until further notice.

If you wish to visit a patient, please consider other means like telephone or videoconference. This will prevent the patient from in-person contact.

NOTE: We will allow the partners of laboring persons to the delivery room, and visitors in end of life situations. We also allow support for minors and people with disabilities.

We are doing this to protect the health and safety of our patients, staff, clinicians and community. Thank you for your understanding.

We have a long history of caring for patients with complex illnesses, including infectious diseases. We continue to work closely with county, state and federal agencies, including local county health departments and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address COVID-19 related issues. We are also keeping our staff and affiliated providers throughout our integrated network prepared for and informed about patient screening and isolation protocols for COVID-19. Staff have been trained to address infectious respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.

Sutter will not collect patient cost shares (e.g., a copay, deductible and co-insurance) in advance of providing services for medically-necessary COVID-19 screening and test collection administered at Sutter care centers.

If you have a regularly scheduled appointment with us, please don’t cancel appointments unless you have a fever or a cough. If you have a fever or cough, please contact your care center prior to arrival. We’ll be in touch if we need to change your appointment or convert your in-person appointment to video.

We’ve temporarily suspended online appointment booking via My Health Online.

If you suspect you have COVID-19, please contact the care center before you go. Our providers may need to counsel you before you visit a care center.

We’re canceling and rescheduling some non-urgent appointments to protect our high-risk populations. Please contact your care center prior to your appointment.

To help keep patients and our clinicians safe, we’ve temporarily suspended online appointment booking through My Health Online and on our website. Please consider a Video Visit for non-urgent common health issues. For all other appointments please contact your provider directly.

Sutter Health is committed to the health and safety of our communities. If you’re concerned about COVID-19 infection and are enrolled in a clinical trial or research study at Sutter Health, contact the study coordinator or speak to your doctor before your next study-related visit, procedure or treatment.

Wash your hands often using soap and water. This is one of the best ways your caregivers protect themselves from the spread of germs — it will help protect you, too! Remember to clean the ‘webs’ between fingers and thumbs. Don’t have access to soap and water? Use hand sanitizers. Avoid touching your face, particularly your eyes or nose, with your hands.

• The CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
• Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.
• The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.

Flu symptoms may appear similar to a COVID-19 infection. Find out more about the flu and flu prevention.