The "new normal" is here to stay at this veterinary clinic

In a recent interview with dvm360^®, Marc Rosenberg, VMD, director at Vorhees Veterinary Center in New Jersey, shared his reasoning for requiring clients and staff to wear masks despite the loosened Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidelines. He also touched on a few other safety measures his practice has adopted during the pandemic that are "here to stay."

“I have other COVID-19 protocols that are hygiene-related that we had been using during the pandemic and continue to use such as no sharing of pens—everybody has a pen and that’s what they use,” Rosenberg told dvm360 staff^®.

“In addition, during [the height] of COVID-19 the staff were [also] given cellphones when at the clinic so they can speak to clients...this way they were not using the common telephones in the clinic where everybody is holding that earpiece up and the mouthpiece right next to their mouth,” he continued.

Rosenberg then shifted gears to explain the reasoning for continuing these protocols, referencing a few statistics regarding COVID-19 vaccination rates within the US population.

“The reason is that 20% of people entering our clinic are not vaccinated against COVID-19. First of all, a lot of youngsters come in with their parents and some of these youngsters are certainly not eligible yet for [the] COVID-19 vaccination or they have not been completely vaccinated,” noted Rosenberg. “Secondly, just like the rest of the population, 15% to 20% of everybody that brings their pet to the veterinarian reflects the demographics of the larger population and they are not vaccinated."

Watch the full video below for more into Rosenberg’s thoughts on COVID-19 policies at his clinic.