OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Cancer patients and survivors are considered at a higher risk for coronavirus infection.
Cancer centers across America are doing what they can protect their patients during this time.
“With COVID-19 however we’re having to do things a little bit different in order to take the best possible care of our patients,” said Dr. Robert Mannel.
Director of Stephenson Cancer Center, Dr. Robert Mannel says we’ve learned some things about the virus by looking at what’s going on in other parts of the world.
“The World Health Organization in China have published some reports on the impact of different cohorts of patients and what types of patients seem to have worse outcomes,” said Mannel.
Mannel says cancer is one of the 5 chronic medical conditions that can substantially increase the risk of death if you get a COVID-19 infection.
“If you are a person who doesn’t have one of these comorbid conditions in China you had approximately 1.4% chance of dying if you had a confirmed COVID-19 case for cancer patients that increased to 7.6%. A 5 fold increase so clearly we’re very concerned about this population,” he said.
He says the risk is even elevated for the more than 250,000 cancer survivors living in our state.
“Keeping that cancer patient at home away from crowds and really maximizing the social distancing is the most important thing you can do as a caregiver,” he said.
Mannel had this piece of advice for cancer patients and survivors during the pandemic.
“Social distancing is what you can do. It’s what you have under your own control that you can make a difference in whether or not you get COVID-19 and social distancing is an act of love,” he said.
The Stephenson Cancer Center has also significantly decreased the number of people going to its campus, through different systems, including telemedicine. As of Wednesday, at the center all of the healthcare providers there will be wearing masks.
