Preventing infection transmission has been a chief concern of healthcare leaders and staff striving to protect their patients and themselves from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus poses an insidious threat that includes the possibility of bronchoscopy-associated transmission of COVID-19. Long before the pandemic, epidemiologist and researcher Cori…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on October 15 announced that it reissued the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for certain N95 and other filtering face-piece respirators that are manufactured in China and are not approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety…

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Editor's Note Recently published data from a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that 70.6% of COVID-19-positive patients report “always” wearing a mask, 14.4% report “often” wearing a mask, and 3.9% report “never” wearing a mask (See Table: Reported use of cloth face covering or…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced October 14 that, effective October 15, surveyors will evaluate the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reporting requirements for COVID-19 testing results in the Laboratory Accreditation Program. Surveyors will review documentation of COVID-19 test result reporting during the Regulatory Review session of an…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 7 issued a new Quick Safety that focuses on the use of telehealth to deliver patient care while preventing exposure to COVID-19. Other benefits of telehealth in the Quick Safety include: promoting social distancing monitoring the progression of home-quarantined COVID-19 patients enabling providers…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 9 announced that it is taking action to stop labs that are testing for COVID-19 without proper Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments (CLIA) certification. The agency has issued 171 cease-and-desist letters to US facilities that were testing for COVID-19…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 6 released guidance on how it will implement an interim final rule that requires hospitals and critical access hospitals to report data on COVID-19 and flu patients. CMS says failure to report specified data may lead to termination…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on October 6 released guidance on the data and information needed to support the issuance of emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines. The recommended data and information include: chemistry, manufacturing, and controls information clinical and nonclinical data and information administration and…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on October 5, issued updated guidance to its "How COVID-19 Spreads" website, which includes information on the potential for airborne spread of the virus. The CDC says that, based on current science, it continues to believe people are more likely…

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Editor's Note Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, on October 2, renewed the national public health emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 for another 90 days. The renewal will take effect October 23. This is the third renewal of PHE, which has been in effect since late January. The…

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