18/05/2020
A letter from Dr. Marcus Rice:
There is an old Chinese saying that one should live in interesting times. I, for one, am over it. I want to go back to ordinary times, as I’m sure all of you do as well. But here we are, stuck in the middle of the worst medical crisis in 100 years, and we have to do the very best we can to keep our patients safe and healthy.
So far, it does not appear that the people living with MS are at any higher risk from COVID-19 than others of the same age, race, and s*x. Data collection is still in the early stages, but as of right now there does not seem to be any significantly higher risk for patients on medications for MS. This information is being compiled and updated by the COViMS Registry which can be accessed at https://www.covims.org/.
Having said that, it is important to remember that some patients with MS are elderly and disabled, and it is particularly important that those patients stay as isolated as they possibly can.
Here at the MSCT we are doing everything we can to keep patients safe. As you know, most of our visits since March have been either by video or by telephone. Our Tysabri infusions have continued, although we have spaced them out to every 6 weeks in order to accommodate everyone. We have removed chairs from the infusion room in order to allow adequate distancing between patients. The patients and staff members are using appropriate PPE as recommended by the CDC.
We have had to postpone some of our other infusions, mostly Ocrevus and Rituxan, but we are back scheduling those and hope to be caught up shortly. We are trying to give steroids by the high dose oral route wherever possible instead of requiring an office visit for an IV. We ask for your continued patience and understanding to allow us to get every patient what she or he needs.
The office itself will hopefully be gradually opening up to live, in-person visits in June. We plan to take this slowly and carefully, following state and local guidelines. In the next several days you will see an additional post with further information. Unfortunately, there is no way to set a timetable right now – to paraphrase Dr. Fauci, the virus sets the timetable.
Finally, I would like to express my utmost thanks and admiration for all of the MSCT staff, whose courage and skill have kept us open and able to deliver the care our patients require in this most difficult time.
Sincerely,
Marcus Rice, MD, FAAN, FACP
COViMS (COVID-19 Infections in MS & Related Diseases) is a joint effort of the National MS Society, Consortium of MS Centers and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada to capture information on outcomes of people with MS and other CNS demyelinating diseases (Neuromyelitis Optica, or MOG antibody di...
