Addiction treatment is considered an essential service during the stay-home order. Providers say social distancing rules could result in a silver lining for their patients.
Methadone treatment for opioid addiction is highly regulated. Patients usually have to visit a clinic every day to receive it, according to Jackie Brolsma, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Evergreen Treatment Services in Seattle.
“Probably the greatest restriction we have is the requirement for patients, when they are early on in treatment, to daily dose or have to come to the clinic,” she said. “And of course that … was at odds with what we needed to do when Covid-19 took over.”
Source: KUOW/NPR
https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-clinic-welcomes-new-methadone-guidelines-in-wake-of-coronavirus