COVID-19

Health care workers at facilities that treat patients who have Medicare or Medicaid coverage were required to get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by this Sunday. Ten states asked for a temporary injunction and got it.

Although not much has been disclosed about Omicrom so far, its appearance made the WHO label it a variant of concern and caused a cascade of travel restrictions around the world.

Kevin Kavanagh, MD: “One person with COVID-19 can spend months in the ICU, which would prevent 10 or 20, non-COVID-19 cases from going to the ICU, whether it’s for a coronary bypass, or just angioplasty, or getting a cancer procedure. You have 10 or 20 times the number of patients that can’t get care for other serious illnesses.”

Perhaps another reason why pregnant women should get the COVID-19 vaccine? Investigators found COVID-19 infection altered the mothers’ immunity at delivery, and gestational COVID-19 exposure alters the immunity of the newborns.

La’Titia Houston MPH, BSN, RN, CIC: “We work not only with the bedside nurses and the sterile processors, but even with our clinicians, our physicians. They want a timeout before the procedure is even performed because they want to ensure that the scope did pass during the high-level disinfection procedure.”

Recent research into COVID-19 suggests that health care systems need to move beyond the idea that pathogen spread happens either via droplets or aerosolized particles. Patients can generate the full range of respiratory particles.

Confusion surrounding just who should get COVID-19 booster shots addressed in latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kevin Kavanagh, MD: “The deer apparently live with COVID-19 quite well, but, yet rapidly spread it amongst the herds. And that’s actually very problematic, because if it finds a host that it doesn’t make sick, but yet it can mutate and change and then reinfect other animals and plus mankind, that is one of the worrisome scenarios that could take place.”

Health care professionals were getting vaccinated at a steady clip. Then came the drop-off. Now, only about 70% are fully vaccinated. Infection preventionists to the rescue?

There is growing evidence that fully vaccinated should be defined as having 3 doses of an mRNA vaccine.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending November 19.

The CDC is expected to approve the move today. But some experts question: Does it go far enough? Shouldn’t everybody get a booster?

As part of infection prevention against COVID-19, schools spent millions of federal dollars trying to upgrade ventilation systems. That money has been ill-spent, warn some experts.

If smallpox reemerges, it could be devastating with its 30% fatality rate and an ability to spread comparable to the Delta variant of COVID-19.

A hospital system in India was able to vaccinate 90% of health care workers in part by using role models, photos, and social media, according to a new study.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending November 12.

What does the post-COVID-19 future look like for infection preventonists? Great strides in infection prevention have been made because of the COVID-19 response, but look for them to be modified moving forward.

No agreed-upon definition exists that spells out exactly which symptoms trigger the need for a test. One expert says that if a get-together includes, for example, someone with Stage 4 cancer, it would be appropriate for all attendees to test beforehand.

All signs point to finally throwing off the dictatorship of the little spiky ball.

The availability of pediatric vaccines is being presented as a way to return to some sense of normal after two years of a pandemic.

Crystal Heishman, MBA, MSN, RN, ONC, CIC: “You don’t ever want to go into a sterilization department and say, ‘You’re doing this wrong’. Because they’re the subject matter experts. You want to learn. You want to learn the process. You want to work together because it makes a stronger partnership.”

Doe Kley, RN, CIC, MPH,T-CHEST: “We just can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing with our singular focus on one pathogen. We know that while we were doing that—while we were so busy with COVID-19—other really dangerous and emerging pathogens got a foothold. The one that scares me the most is Candida auris.”

Many believe that super immunity can develop in those who have had SARS-CoV-2 infections and have become vaccinated. Meanwhile, fully vaccinated might mean getting 3 doses, not 2.

Darrel Hicks: “EVS teams work around professionals who are certified—whether it’s respiratory therapists, physical therapists, the RNs, the doctors—and I think if we ever hoped to elevate their status that we need to certify environmental services workers to a certain level of knowledge before they even start cleaning patient rooms.”

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending October 29.